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UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


SCHOOL  OF  LAW 
LIBRARY 


The  Chautauqua  Liter'ai'i|  and  Scientific  Cii'cle. 


STXJIDIES    ITOR   1891-92. 


Leading  Facts  of  American  History.    Montgomery,        -       .  -  $i  oo 

Social  Institutions  of  the  United  States.    Bryce,          -        '        •  i  oo 

Initial  Studies  in  American  Letters.    Beers,         .        .        .        .  i  oo 

Story  of  the  Constttution  of  the  United  States.     Thorpe,       -  -        60 

Classic  German  Course  in  English.     Wilkinson,       -        -        -  -     i  00 

Two  Old  Faiths.     Mitchell  and  Muir,      .-...-  40 


THE  STORY  OF  THE 

CONSTITUTION  OF 

THE  UNITED  STATES 


BY 

FRANCIS  NEWTON  THORPE 

School  of  American  History,    University  of  Pentisylvania 

AUTHOR  ov 

The  Government  of  the  People  of  the  United  States 


liKW   YORK 

CHAUTAUQUA     PRESS 

C.   L-  S.  C.   Department,  ISO  Fiah  Avenue 

1891 


ta9i 


re. 

The  required  books  of  the  C.  L.  S.  C.  are  recommended  by  a  Council 
of  Six.  It  must,  however,  be  understood  that  recommendation  does  not 
involve  an  approval  by  the  Council,  or  by  any  member  of  it,  of  every 
principle  or  doctrine  contained  in  tlie  book  recommended. 


Co|>yiinlit,  18.J1,  liy  IIuntA  Isaton,  Nc-w  York. 


Q^o  ills  iUotljcr. 


m 


The  Constitution  Is  intended  to  endure  for  ages  to  come, 
and  consequently  to  be  adapted  to  the  various  crises  of  human 
affairs.  Let  the  end  be  legitimate,  let  it  be  within  the  scope 
of  the  Constitution,  and  all  means  which  are  appropriate,  which 
are  plainly  adapted  to  that  end,  which  are  not  prohibited,  but 
consist  with  the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  Constitution,  are  con- 
stitutional . — C///e/  -Justice  Marshal]. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I,  PAGK 

How  THE  Struggle  Over  the  Taxing  Power  in  America  Led  to 
THE  Formation  of  Constitutions  of  Governmext  in  the  States. 
1G06-1776 9 

CHAPTER  II. 

How  the  States  Formed  a  Confederation  which  Fell  to  Pieces 
Because  it  Had  no  Taxing  Power.     177G-1789 60 


CHAPTER  III. 

How  the  National  Constitution  was  Made,  Conferring  all  nec- 
essary Powers  on  the  National  (tOvernmext.     1787 Ill 


CHAPTER  IV. 

How  THE  National  Constitution   Becajie  the   Supreme    Law   of 
the  Land.     1787-1870 148 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States 178 

Map  of  the  United  States  inJ790 facing  title 

Index 207 


THE  STORY  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION 

OP  THE 

UNITED  STATES* 


CHAPTER    I. 


HOW  THE  STRUGGLE  OVER  THE  TAXING  POWER  IN  AMERICA 
LED  TO  THE  FORMATION  OP  CONSTITUTIONS  OF  GOVERN- 
MENT   IN   THE    STATES. 

1600-1770. 

After  more  than  a  hundred  years  of  general  prosperity 
under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  it  is  difficult  to 
realize  that  our  country  ever  suffered  for  lack  of  a  cen- 
tral government  or  for  want  of  a  supreme  law.  The  national 
Constitution  and  the  laws  and  treaties  made  in  accord- 
ance with  it  are  now  accejited  as  the  most  solemn  expres- 
sion of  the  sovereign  will  of  the  j^eople;  the  "more  perfect 
union  "  is  Iristorical,  not  sentimental;  "the  general  welfare  " 
is  a  national  policy,  not  a  proposition  in  a  plan  of  govern- 
ment.    By  the  national  Constitution  are  tried  the  constitu- 

*  Authorities  Consulted:  Elliot's  Delates  in  the  Federal  Convention  of 
1787,  5  vols. ;  Lippincott,  Philadelphia,  1881.  Yates's  and  Lansing's  iVofes, 
1  vol.;  Albany  Edition,  1821.  Luther  Martin's  Genuine  Information,  in 
Elliot.  History  of  the  Celebration  of  the  One  Hundredth  Anniversary  of  the 
Promulgation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  Slates,  edited  by  Hampton  L. 
Carson;  Lippincott,  Philadelphia,  1889.     Journal  of  Virginia  Convention  of 


10  SUPREME  AUTHORITY  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

tions  of  States,  the  acts  of  legislatures,  the  laws  of  Congress, 
and  the  decisions  of  courts  of  justice.  To  the  national  Con- 
stitution may  every  inhabitant  of  the  land  appeal  for  the 
protection  of  his  civil  rights.  In  conformity  with  the  na- 
tional Constitution  civil  authority  is  administered  throughout 
the  land  and  the  vast  machinery  of  government  performs  its 
prescribed  Avork.  By  the  terms  of  this  venerable  instrument 
do  Congresses  have  succession;  President  follows  President; 
the  body  of  learned  men  who  constitute  the  federal  courts 
has  perpetiiity;  elections  bring  into  passing  eras  of  popular- 
ity and  power  the  fateful  administrations  of  political  parties; 
domain  is  added  to  domain  westward  to  that  mysterious 
South  Sea  whose  pacific  waters  were  first  vexed  by  a  Euro- 
pean keel  scarcely  three  centuries  ago;  the  land  of  the  first 
republic  of  modern  times  becomes  a  land  far  greater  in  extent 
than  the  land  of  all  the  republics  of  antiquity;  America  be- 

1788;  Richmond,  1827.  Robertson's  Dehafes;  Richmond,  1805.  The  Min- 
utes of  the  New  Jersey  Convention,  1787;  Trenton,  Traver  Reprint.  Mas- 
sachusetts Convention;  Boston,  1788.  North  Carolina  Convention;  Hillsboro', 
1788.  Massachusetts  State  Constitutional  Convention;  Boston,  1779;  Edition 
of  1832.  Constitution  of  Massachusetts;  Worcester,  Isaiah  Thomas,  1780. 
Pennsylvania  State  Constitutional  Convention,  1776-1790;  Harrisburg,  1825. 
Maryland  Conventions,  1774,  1775,  1776;  Baltimore,  1836.  Vermont  State 
Papers;  Siade,  Middlebury,  1823.  Pennsylvania  and  the  Federal  Constitution; 
edited  V)}'  McMasler  and  Stone;  Pennsylvania  Historical  Society,  Philadel- 
phia, 1888.  Poore's  Cliarters  and  Constitutions;  Government  Print,  Wash- 
in<<ton,  1876.  Jameson's  Constitutional  Convention,  4th  edition;  Callashan 
A  Co.,  Chicago,  1888.  Bancroft's  History  of  the  Constitution,  Vol.  T;  Apple- 
ton,  Now  York,  1882.  McMaster's  History  of  the  Peoj^le  of  the  United  States; 
Af)plel()n,  New  York,  18S7.  Bowen's  Inauguration  of  Washington,  The 
Ci-nlnry  Mfjazine,  April,  1880;  F.  D.  Stone's  Ordinance  of  1787;  Ponnsyl- 
v.-iiiia  Historical  Socicly,  Philadelphia,  1889.  Volume  on  Population  in  the 
Tenth  Census;  Washington,  OovcrnincMt  Printing  Oflicc,  188.'!.  Tho  map 
wa.s  ro-drawn  fur  this  book  by  C.  S.  Mclntire,  of  the  University. 


SYMBOLS  OF  GOVERNMENT.  ]] 

comes  the  lioine  of  all  peoples,  races,  creeds,  ami  languages; 
liberty,  intelligence,  and  industry  transform  an  untouclied 
continent  into  a  garden  yielding  almost  every  product  needed 
by  man  for  his  comfort  and  civilization;  and  when  war  has 
shaken  the  pillars  of  the  State,  when  the  ideas  of  nationality 
and  representative  government  have  been  subjected  to  the 
crucial  wager  of  battle,  these  ideas,  as  it  Avere  serene  in  diffi- 
culties, have  come  forth  from  the  terrible  trial  of  practical 
affairs  as  the  type  and  figure  of  republican  government;  the 
national  Constitution  itself  responding  to  the  touch  of  hu- 
manity, as  if  the  supreme  quality  of  its  life  Avere  its  powers 
of  perpetual  adajitation  to  the  wants  of  man.  In  the  popular 
mind  the  Constitution  seems  almost  a  sentient  instrument,  as 
were  tlie  emblems  of  government,  the  palladium  of  Minerva, 
or  the  Sibj-lline  books  to  the  citizens  of  Athens  and  of  Rome. 
The  veneration  of  Americans  for  the  Constitution,  a  venera- 
tion founded  upon  their  conservatism,  is  not  a  veneration  for 
a  sheet  of  parchment  yellowed  by  age  or  preserving  the  auto- 
graphs of  the  most  eminent  men  in  this  country  a  century 
ago.  The  veneration  for  the  national  Constitution  is  rather 
like  that  veneration  which  all  Englishmen  feel  for  the  Great 
Charter,  an  ancient  state  paper  setting  forth  in  most  solemn 
form  the  principles  of  sound  government.  Thus  the  Consti- 
tution is  more  than  a  legal  document;  it  is  the  expression  of 
the  civil  life  of  the  American  people.  As  we  love  our  institu- 
tions, as  we  cherish  the  memory  of  our  patriotic  dead,  as  we 
triumph  in  peace,  as  we  strive  for  better  things,  as  we  hope 
to  secure  the  blessings  of  lil)erty  for  ourselves  and  our  ])os- 
terity,  we  interjjret  that  plan  of  government  which  finds 
general  expression  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 


12  OPINIONS  FAST  AND  PRESENT. 

The  story  of  tlie  Constitution  is  of  truth  stranger  than  fic- 
tion. It  is  natural  to  attribute  to  an  institution  tliroughout 
its  history  that  rei^utation  which  it  bears  in  our  own  day. 
Many  men  are  yet  living  who  remember  with  startling  dis- 
tinctness a  time  when  the  Constitution  seemed  merely  a  piece 
of  parchment;  when  the  fate  of  tlie  nation  was  as  uncertain  as 
the  course  of  battle;  when  stern  necessity  compelled  so  liberal 
an  interpretation  of  the  supreme  law  of  the  land  that  states- 
men refrained  from  forming  conclusions  on  the  tendency  of 
national  administration,  and,  looking  hopefully  forward, 
sought  new  meanings  in  events  where  before  they  had  sought 
interpretation  by  a  construction  of  words.  Then,  and  not 
till  then,  in  our  history  was  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  understood  in  its  spirit  as  being  the  exjiression  of  the 
nation's  mind,  whatever  that  mind  miglit  be.  But  no  man 
now  living  can  remember  the  angry  days  when  the  Constitu- 
tion was  yet  a  hope  or  a  proposition  debated  between  jealous 
States  and  still  more  jealous  political  leaders.  No  one  can  re- 
member the  living  opinions  which,  at  the  close  of  the  eight- 
eentli  century,  so  nearly  triumphed,  and  whose  triumpli  would 
have  dissolved  a  feeble  union  of  States  and  encouraged  the 
horrors  of  an  anarchy  only  possible  in  a  democracy.  When 
the  opinions  on  national  government  in  America  to-day  and 
opinions  of  a  century  ago  are  contrasted,  it  is  difficulb  to  be- 
Vwve  tliat  we  are  the  children  of  our  fathers. 

It  is  my  purpose  to  tell  tlie  story  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  I  shall  briefly  relate  how  the  people  of 
the  colonics  became  self-governing  communities;  how  they 
struggled  for  more  iJiaii  a  century  and  a  half  with  king  and 
with    Parliament  for  the  control  of  the  taxing  power;  how 


AMERICAN  EXPERIENCE.  13 

they  continued  a  struj^gle  in  America  which,  during  a  portion 
of  our  colonial  liistory,  had  raged  in  England,  and  iii  the 
course  of  which  strut;o;le  Parliament  had  sent  one  king  to  the 
block  and  another,  his  son,  into  exile;  how  in  America  the 
struggle  became  a  struggle  between  the  power  of  an  English 
Parliament  and  the  power  of  a  colonial  assembly;  how  in 
that  struggle  every  element  of  discord  gathered  about  the 
taxing  power  and  the  power  to  control  trade;  how  the 
assemblies  of  thirteen  colonies  became  the  legislatures  of 
thirteen  States,  and  civil  government,  based  upon  American 
experience,  was  assumed  in  each  of  these  independent  com- 
munities; how  the  necessities  of  war  compelled  the  forma- 
tion of  a  union  of  the  States;  how  this  confederation  of 
States  yielded  speedy  proof  of  its  insufficiency  for  national 
purposes;  haw  the  whole  people  suffered  for  the  want  of  a 
more  perfect  union;  how  that  union  was  brought  about  by 
a  few  men  who  perhaps  builded  better  than  they  knew;  how 
the  supreme  law  of  the  land  was  framed  in  a  convention  of 
unequaled  legislators;  how  their  work  was  constructed,  and 
by  what  process  they  brought  it  to  a  harmonious  conclusion; 
how  the  Constitution  framed  in  secret  was  submitted  to  the 
people  for  their  approval,  and  how  that  approval  was  given 
unhesitatingly  or  doubtfully,  or  with  many  suggestions,  or 
Avith  serious  conditions,  or  was  flatly  refused;  how  at  last  the 
Constitution  received,  technically,  the  consent  of  the  people, 
and  the  plan  of  government  which  it  outlined  was  carried 
into  effeet;  and  how,  during  a  century,  this  Constitution 
has  been  changed  by  amendments  adapting  it  to  the  civil 
necessities  of  the  people  of  the  United  States.  In  telling  this 
story  so  briefl}^,  more  merit  is  due  for  what  is  left  out  than 


14  THE  PEOPLE  LEGISLATE. 

for  what  is  tokl,  for  the  full  story  is  long  and  changing  and 
coiuiilicated.  But  the  essentials  of  the  whole  story  may  be 
presented  in  a  few  words. 

The  people  of  the  colonies  at  the  time  of  the  separation 
from  England  were  not  unskilled  in  the  science  of  govern- 
ment. In  each  colony  from  its  origin  civil  affairs  were  ad- 
ministered according  to  principles  fundamental  in  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  idea  of  government.  The  threefold  division  of  gov- 
ernment into  executive,  legislative,  and  judicial  was  familiar 
to  the  intelligent  men  of  all  the  colonies  at  the  time  of  their 
planting,  and  this  division,  which  in  the  beginning  of  the 
seventeenth  century  was  not  definite  and  discriminating,  be- 
came more  clearly  marked  in  the  colonial  governments  dur- 
ing the  fii'st  half  of  the  eighteenth  century.  That  the  king 
should  not  make  laws  for  the  people,  but  that  the  represent- 
atives of  the  people  should  legislate,  is  an  epitome  of  Amer- 
ican political  history  down  to  1776.  In  every  colony,  before 
the  time  of  the  Revolution,  the  control  of  civil  affairs  was 
directed  by  a  governor,  by  a  colonial  assembly,  and  by  a  sys- 
tem of  courts.  The  governor  was  ai)pointed  by  the  crown, 
except  in  Pennsylvania,  in  Maryland,  and  in  Connecticut,  and, 
during  a  portion  of  its  early  history,  in  Massachusetts.  The 
Penns  and  the  Calverts  governed  as  lord  pro})rietors  under  a 
charter  from  the  crown,  and  the  peoi)le  of  Connecticut  elected 
their  govern(n-s  by  ])rivilegeof  their  charter  from  Charles  II. 
In  all  the  colonies  the  king  was  re))resented,  and  by  a  fiction 
of  law  he  was  the  fountain  of  civil  authority.  Tlie  judges 
in  tlie  colonies  were  appoint cil  by  the  governors  and  com- 
missioned in  tlie  name  of  the  king.  I>y  a  legal  fiction,  also, 
the  king  was  ever  present  in  his  courts;  all  oaths  and  aflirraa- 


THE  LA  W  OF  THE  LAND.  15 

tions  Lad  reference  to  royal  authority,  and  all  commissions 
and  writs  ran  in  the  king's  name.  Thus  the  governors  and 
tbe  judges  in  colonial  America  were  in  a  peculiar  sense  the 
representatives  of  the  monarchical  idea.  As  in  ancient  times 
Rome  sent  governors  to  her  provinces,  so  England,  in  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries,  sent  governors  to  her 
American  colonies.  But  the  })arallel  is  not  complete ;  it  was 
the  senate  of  Rome  that  made  laws  for  her  provinces  and 
that  sent  governors  to  execute  her  laws  and  decrees  accord- 
ing to  the  policy  of  the  party  or  faction  in  power  at  the  capi- 
tal. No  Roman  province  had  its  own  elected  legislature;  no 
American  colony  was  Avithout  its  own  popular  assembly.  The 
colonial  legislatures  are  an  anomaly  in  history;  they  existed 
under  royal  grants,  and  they  exercised  an  authority  repre- 
senting ideas  incompatible  with  that  of  the  divine  right  of 
kings.  Thus  it  came  about  in  America  that  there  developed 
in  the  civil  organization  an  idea  which  was  practicable  and 
pleasing  to  the  masses  and  at  the  same  time  wholly  at  variance 
with  another  idea — the  monarchical  idea — which  constituted 
an  essential  part  in  the  general  civil  organization.  The  vari- 
ance was  intensified  by  the  existence  and  vigorous  activity  of 
an  old  and  powerful  legislative  body  for  the  whole  kingdom 
— the  English  Parliament.  Between  king  and  Parliament 
has  for  centuries  raged  a  contest  which  constitutes  the  civil 
and  political  history  of  Great  Britain.  It  is  an  epitome  of 
English  political  history  to  say  that  the  king  must  rule  ac- 
cording to  the  law  of  the  land  :ind  that  Parliament  makes  that 
law.  It  may  be  said  further  that  the  law  is  determined  by 
the  House  of  Commons  in  a  last  struffsrle  between  the  two 
houses  of  Parliament,  the  balance  of   power  being  in  the 


16  THE  ASSEMBLIES. 

Commons,  the  elected  representatives  of  the  people  of  En- 
gland. By  1V33,  Av^hen  the  thirteenth  American  colony  had 
been  founded,  the  civil  affairs  of  the  colonies  had  taken  on 
tolerably  detinite  civil  proportions.  Fifty  years  later,  on  the 
3d  of  September,  was  signed  in  Paris,  by  the  representatives 
of  the  United  States,  of  Great  Britain,  and  of  France,  the 
definitive  treaty  of  peace  by  which  the  boundaries  and  the  in- 
dependence of  the  United  States  were  acknowledged.  But  in 
1733  at  least  two  of  the  colonies,  Virginia  and  New  York, 
had  passed  into  the  second  quarter  of  their  second  century, 
and  civil  affairs  in  all  of  them  had  passed  into  an  organization 
well  understood  and  peculiar  to  America.  The  seeds  of  a  new 
sovereignty'  had  been  sown,  and  now  the  plant  could  not  be 
rooted  out.  To  the  royal  governors,  to  the  king,  to  Parlia- 
ment, the  colonial  assemblies  were  offensive.  Formed  on  a 
common  experience,  and  closely  after  the  model  of  Parlia- 
ment itself,  these  assemblies,  except  in  New  Hampshire,  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  in  Georgia,  consisted  of  two  houses,  known 
generally  as  the  upper  house,  or  the  Council,  and  the  lower 
house,  or  the  Assembly.  The  upper  house  usually  consisted 
of  from  six  to  twenty  men,  summoned  by  the  colonial  gov- 
ernor, to  serve  for  an  indefinite  time  as  advisers  to  the  execu- 
tive, just  as  many  years  ago  was  summoned  the  first  body  of 
nobles  in  England  as  advisers  to  the  king.  The  Assembly 
consisted  of  men  elected  by  the  qualified  voters  in  the  colony. 
Tliis  arrangement  is  characteristic  of  New  Jersey,  of  New 
York,  ami  of  the  Southern  colonies.  Tlie  four  New  England 
colonies  ele(;tcd  the  delegates  to  both  houses.  In  these 
colonial  legislatures  the  assemblies,  like  the  Commons  in  En- 
gland, possessed  the  balance  of  power.     The  Assembly  voted 


THE  TAXING  POiVER.  17 

the  taxes  and  made  appropriations  of  money.  Seldom  did 
the  two  houses  of  a  colonial  legislature  meet  under  the  same 
roof  at  one  time;  there  were  occasionally,  and  for  specific  pur- 
poses, joint  sessions  of  the  houses.  It  would  be  an  eriior, 
however,  to  compare  the  colonial  to  the  later  State  legisla- 
tures. While  in  theory  they  are  similar  bodies  they  are  too 
unlike  in  their  methods  of  civil  procedure  in  their  respective 
fields  of  free  legislation  to  permit  a  true  parallel.  To  the 
colonial  legislatures,  and  to  the  lower  house  in  each  of 
those  legislatures  must  we  turn  if  we  would  understand  the 
current  and  the  subsequent  constitutional  history  of  the 
country  and  the  real  causes  of  the  separation  from  England 
in  17*76.  In  England  Parliament  alone  could  lay  taxes.  As 
a  part  of  the  British  Empire  the  American  colonies  were  sub- 
ject to  taxation  by  Parliament,  It  is  an  axiom  in  government 
that  the  tax-levying  body  possesses  supreme  power  in  the 
State.  There  are  reasons  for  this.  The  power  to  levy  a  tax 
implies  the  poAver  of  controlling  the  labor  of  men — in  other 
words,  the  power  of  controlling  men  themselves.  The  power 
of  levying  taxes  in  the  colonies  was  exercised  by  the  assem- 
blies, and  that  power  came  to  reside  in  them  by  a  course  of 
events  not  anticipated  by  the  kings  who  granted  charters  to 
the  founders  of  the  colonies,  nor  by  the  Parliaments  which 
witnessed  the  origin  and  growth  of  infant  States  under  these 
charters.  The  story  of  government  in  America  is  never 
plainer  than  Avhen  that  story  tells  how  the  struggle  for  the 
taxing  power  and  the  later  struggle  about  the  exercise  of  that 
power  at  last  resulted  in  the  formation  of  the  "  more  perfect 
union  "  under  the  present  national  Constitution.  The  first 
phase  of  that  struggle  was  to  determine  where  the  power  lay; 


IS  THE  TWO  COMPAXIES. 

llie  second  j^liase  is  how  tliat  power  shall  be  exercised.  The 
first  jjhase  is  a  part  of  a  hirger  sentiment,  tlieideaof  govern- 
ment itself  and  on  what  principles  government  shall  he  organ- 
ized; the  second  phase  is  a  part  of  that  larger  and  still  dis- 
puted problem,  how  government  shall  be  administered.  The 
first  phase  characterizes  the  colonial  period  of  American  his- 
tory; the  second  phase  the  national  period. 

The  entire  colonial  period,  during  which  tlie  principles  on 
Avhich  representative  government  in  America  were  deter- 
mined, is  illustrated  by  the  growth  of  government  in  Vir- 
ginia. In  1606  King  James  I.  granted  a  charter  to  "Sir 
Thomas  Gates  and  Sir  George  Somers,  knights,  Richard 
llackluit,  clerk,  Prebendary  of  Westminster,  and  Eilward 
Maria  Wingfield,  Thomas  Ilanham  and  Ralegh  Gilbert, 
Esqrs.,  William  Parker  and  George  Popham,  gentlemen,  and 
divers  others  of  our  loving  subjects,  ...  to  make  habitation, 
plantation,  and  to  deduce  a  colony  of  sundry  our  people  into 
that  part  of  America  commonly  called  Virginia."  At  that 
time  nearly  all  of  North  America  was  "  commonly  called 
Virginia."  To  these  incorporators  and  others  named  in  the 
charter  the  king  gave  a  region  of  country  as  definite  in 
boundary  as  his  geographical  knoAvledge  of  Virginia  permit- 
ted. The  charter  was  a  grant  to  two  companies  :  to  Gates 
and  his  associates,  describing  them  as  the  London  Company, 
and  to  a  second  company,  to  be  known  as  tlie  Plymouth, 
consisting  of  Gilbert,  Parker,  Pojdiam,  and  others,  of  the 
town  of  Plymoudi,  in  England.  ]5y  the  charter  each  colony 
\v;is  to  "have  a  Gouncil  which  shall  govern  and  order  all 
ni.iltcrs  and  causes  which  shall  arise,  grow,  or  happen  to  or 
within  the  same  several  Colonies,  according  to  such  Laws, 


THE  FIRST  CHARTER.  19 

Ordinances  &  Instructions  as  shall  be  in  that  behalf,  !jfiven 
and  signed  with  Our  Hand  or  Sign  Manual,  and  pass  under 
the  Privy  Seal  of  Our  realm  of  England;  Each  of  which 
Councils  shall  consist  of  thirteen  Persons  to  be  ordained, 
r.iade,  and  removed  from  time  to  time  according  as  shall  be 
dii'ected  and  comprised  in  the  same  Insti'uctions;  And  shall 
have  a  several  Seal,  for  all  Matters  that  shall  pass  or  concern 
the  same  several  Councils;  Each  of  which  Seals  shall  have 
the  King's  Arms  engraven  on  the  one  Side  thereof,  and  His 
Portraiture  on  the  other;  And  that  the  Seal  for  the  Council 
of  the  said  first  Colony  shall  have  engraven  round  about,  on 
the  one  Side  these  Words:  Sigillum  Regis  Magnm  Britan- 
nim,  F)'(oicim  &  lUhendm ;  *  and  on  the  other  Side  this 
Inscription  round  about :  Pro  Concilia  Primce  Colonim  Vir- 
ginioe.'''' \  In-  this  commercial  grant  originated  representa- 
tive government  in  the  United  States.  The  charter  gave 
authority  from  the  crown  to  pursue  specified  activities  in 
Virginia.  These  activities  were  commercial  and  industrial 
rather  than  political  in  their  nature;  but  not  wholly  com- 
mercial or  industrial,  for  political  interests  are  implied  in  all 
economic  affairs.  The  council  of  thirteen  in  England  was  a 
body  of  directors  empowered  to  act  by  their  charter,  and 
limited  only  by  the  charter.  Civil  matters  were  provided 
for  in  the  assurance  that  all  persons  taking  up  residence  in 
Virginia  and  all  persons  born  there  were  to  enjoy  all  liber- 
ties and  francliises  and  immunities  as  if  livinsr  in  England. 
By  this  first  charter  the  trading  company  was  empowered  to 
make  laws   and   ordinances  for  the  direction  of  its  affairs, 

*  Seal  of  the  king  of  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Ireland. 
f  For  the  council  of  the  first  colony  of  Virginia. 


20  TEE  SECOND  CHARTER. 

subject  to  the  king's  revision  and  approval,  and  to  grant 
land  to  colonists  at  a  rent  to  be  fixed  l)y  the  company.  But 
thus  I'ar  there  is  no  provision  for  a  colonial  legislative  body. 
The  ordinances  of  the  company  made  in  England  Avere  to  be 
the  laws  for  the  settlers  in  Virginia.  This  plan  failed  on 
trial,  and  principally  because  it  was  a  money-making  scheme 
under  the  control  of  a  chartered  monopoly,  a  monopoly  rep- 
resented by  two  companies,  the  London  Company  and  the 
Plymouth  Company.  It  failed  because  no  homes  in  Virginia 
were  set  up  under  its  provisions.  It  literally  concerned  "  a 
body  of  adventurers."  The  few  persons  who  came  to  Vir- 
ginia had  no  intention  of  remaining  there  ;  they  were  not 
Americans;  they  were  not  colonists.  They  were  Londoners 
in  search  of  wealth. 

In  1609  the  king  granted  a  second  charter.  A  more 
definite  domain  was  named.  The  commercial  purpose  of 
the  adventure  was  more  specifically  set  forth.  It  had  been 
found  "  not  convenient "  that  all  the  adventurers  should  be 
drawn  to  meet  and  assemble  so  often  as  should  be  necessary 
for  them  to  have  meetings  and  conferences  about  the  affairs 
of  the  colony;  therefore  one  council  was  to  reside  by  per- 
petual succession  in  England,  and  it  was  empowered  "to 
make,  ordain,  and  establish  all  Manner  of  Orders,  Laws,  Di- 
rections, Instructions,  Forms  &  Ceremonies  of  Government 
and  ^Magistracy,  fit  and  necessary  for  &  concerning  the 
(l(»v(  inment  of  the  said  Colony  and  Plantation."  The  laws 
niad<'  1>\'  tills  coiiiicil  lor  the  cohiny  were  to  be  "as  conven- 
iently as  maybe"  "agreeable  to  the  Laws,  Statutes,  Gov- 
ernment and  Policy  of  the  .  .  .  Kealm  of  England."  A  brief 
experience  had  demonstrated  the  meaning  of  the  phrase  "as 


THE  THIRD  CHARTER.  21 

conveniently  as  may  be;"  the  great  distance  from  England 
and  the  new  conditions  of  life  in  Virginia  making  neces- 
sary this  permission  of  a  use  of  legislative  discretion  in  the 
council  of  the  company  in  England. 

But  the  colony  did  not  prosper.  The  inconvenience  was 
still  too  great  that  affairs  in  Virginia  should  be  wholly  di- 
rected to  minutest  details  by  a  council  of  directors  living  in 
England.  The  whole  adventure  was  reorganized,  and  the 
kins:  arranted  a  third  Virginia  charter  in  1612. 

By  this  charter  the  treasurer  and  company  of  adventurers 
in  Virginia  were  empowered  once  every  week  or  oftener,  at 
their  pleasure,  to  hold  and  keep  a  court  and  assembly  for 
the  better  order  and  government  of  the  plantation  and  such 
things  as  might  concern  it.  But  this  frequent  court  was  to 
consider  only  ordinary  matters.  "  Matters  and  Affairs  of 
Greater  Weight  and  Importance  and  such  as  in  any  Sort 
(should)  concern  the  Weal,  Publick  and  General  Good  of  the 
said  Company  and  Plantation,  as  namely  the  Manner  of 
Government  from  Time  to  Time  to  be  used,  the  Ordering 
and  Dispensing  of  the  Lands  and  Possessions  and  the  Set- 
tling and  Establishing  of  a  Trade  there,  or  Such  like,"  were 
to  be  considered  every  year,  upon  the  last  Wednesday  save 
one  of  Hillary  Term,*  Easter,  f  Trinit}^,  J  and  Michaelmas,  § 
in  "  a  Great,  General  and  Solemn  Assembly,"  the  four  as- 
semblies being  "  Stiled  &  Called  The  four  Great  &  Genei-al 
Courts  of  the  Council  and  Company  of  Adventurers  for  Vir- 
ginia."    These   four   courts   were   magisterial   in   character 

*  J;imiary  11-31.  f  Movable. 

^  Formerly  movable,  now  occurring  from  May  22  to  June  12. 

§  Formerly  movable,  now  November  2-25. 


22  REPRESENTATIVE  GOVERNMENT. 

rather  than  legislative,  but  convenience  and  necessity  com- 
pelled a  modification  or  adaptation  of  the  "solemn  Assem- 
bly" to  the  conditions  of  colonial  life.  From  the  language 
ul'  the  third  charter  it  is  evident  that  the  treasurer  and  other 
members  of  the  company  elected  members  of  this  Assembly, 
and  their  successors  were  to  enact  their  laws  in  conformity 
with  the  laws  of  England.  The  charter  further  provided 
that  "  in  all  Questions  and  Doubts  that  (should)  arise  upon 
any  Difficulty  of  Construction  or  Interpretation  of  any  thing 
contained  in  these  or  any  other  (our)  former  Letters-patent, 
the  same  should  be  taken  and  interpreted  in  tlie  most  ample 
and  beneficial  Manner  for  the  said  Treasurer  and  Com])any 
and  their  Successors."  The  power  of  so  liberal  a  construc- 
tion of  the  charter  was  soon  exercised.  The  colonists  who 
were  members  of  the  company  were  empowered  by  the 
charter  to  assemble  by  representation.  A  formal  and 
special  oath  was  to  be  administered  by  the  treasurer,  his 
deputy,  or  by  any  two  of  the  council,  to  all  persons  in  the 
service  of  the  colony;  the  earliest  instance  of  the  adminis- 
tering of  an  oath  of  office  in  this  country.  Thus  the  gov- 
ernment introduced  into  Virginia  under  the  third  charter 
was  essentiall}'  re|)ublican  in  character,  if  not  so  in  strict 
form;  for  legislative  power  was  taken  from  the  exclusive 
control  of  the  body  of  colonial  directors  and  given  to  a 
General  Assembly  of  the  qualified  electors  of  Virginia  who 
accpiired  the  right  to  exercise  those  poHtical  powers  hitherto 
liiiiilcMl  to  the  qu;iliti('(l  electors  of  Kng];iiid.  Tiio  Virginia 
colonist  became  an  elector  by  joining  the  Virginia  body  of 
colonists  and  subscribing  to  the  oath  required  by  the  com- 
pany.     Jlis  ele(!toral  (pialifications  were  the  oath   and  the 


PROPFAITY  QUALIFICATIONS.  23 

ownership  of  land  to  an  amount  specified  from  time  to  time 
by  the  Assembly.  He  was  also  required  to  belong  to  the 
Established  Church  of  England.  Similar  qualifications  foi- 
electors  were  required  in  England  ;  but  the  limitations  on 
land-holding  in  England  made  the  number  of  electors  there 
lar  less  in  proportion  to  population  than  was  the  number  in 
the  colony.  Frequently  it  Avill  be  necessary  to  refer  to  the 
qualifications  of  the  elector  in  America;  nor  until  the  eight- 
eenth century  is  nearly  past  will  the  abolition  of  property 
qualifications  find  expression  in  the  liberal  provisions  for 
citizenship  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
That  ownership  of  land  was  a  prerequisite  in  Virginia  at 
the  time  of  the  third  charter  for  the  possession  of  the  fran- 
chise is  explicable,  not  alone  from  the  fact  of  most  ancient 
precedent  in  England,  but  because  a  man,  not  capable  of 
securing  and  cultivating  land  in  Virginia,  or  in  the  later 
colonies,  as  they  successively  were  founded  and  their  elec- 
tion laws  were  established,  was  thought  to  be  unworthy  of 
possessing  and  exercising  political  power.  The  ownership  of 
real  estate  indicated  plainly  the  amount  of  a  man's  responsi- 
bility in  the  community.  It  should  not  be  forgotten,  in  fol- 
lowing the  story  of  government  in  England  or  in  America, 
that  the  modern  democratic  idea  of  the  franchise,  "  A  man 
should  vote  because  he  is  a  man,"  was  unknown  until  the 
nineteenth  century  had  entered  upon  its  fourth  decade.  Gov- 
ernment is  founded  upon  persons  and  property,  and  until  quite 
recent  times  this  property  has  been  real  estate  rather  than  per- 
sonal property,  it  being  thought  that  the  estimate  of  property 
values  could  be  made  in  no  simpler  way  than  by  an  estimate  of 
the  value  of  real  estate.    Personal  property  is  now  a  large  pro- 


24  THE  BASIS  FOR  EEPEESENTATIOK 

portion  of  the  whole  amount  of  the  world's  wealth.  At  the 
time  when  the  foundations  of  government  were  laid  in  Amer- 
ica personal  property  bore  only  a  trifling  proportion  to  the 
whole  amount  of  Avealth  in  a  community.  Stocks,  certificates, 
l)onds,  shares,  negotiable  paper,  now  comprising  perhaps 
two  fifths  of  the  wealth  of  society,  Avere  unknown  to  the 
men  who  founded  States  in  America.  Then  the  basis  for 
property  representation  was  real  estate,  now  the  basis  is 
both  on  real  estate  and  on  personal  2:)ro23erty,  though  with 
the  enormous  increase  of  personal  property  no  corresponding 
increase  of  tax  burden  has  l)een  laid  upon  it,  the  land  still 
remaining  the  foundation  of  our  taxing  systems.  Had  per- 
sonal property  been  as  abundant  or  as  valuable  in  the  seven- 
tjeenth  as  in  the  nineteenth  century  doubtless  the  property 
qualification  required  of  an  elector  Avould  have  included  a 
qualification  based  on  personal  property.  As  personal  prop- 
erty gained  in  value  in  America  the  State  legislatures,  as  in 
Rhode  Island,  made  the  privilege  of  the  franchise  obtainable 
according  to  an  income  fixed  by  the  legislature;  and  many 
States,  before  the  property  qualification  was  abandoned  in 
this  country,  had  begun  to  admit  as  electors  all  men,  other- 
wise qualified,  who  paid  taxes  07i  an  income  derived  from 
personal  property  thought  to  be  sufficient  to  equal  the 
former  values  set  on  real  estate.  In  Pennsylvania  and  in 
Mississippi  the  payment  of  certain  taxes  is  still  required 
l)efore  a  man  can  vote.  ]>iit  in  no  State  of  the  XTnion  does 
a  j)roperty  qualification  for  electors  now  exist. 

I  hav(!  quoted  from  the  Virginia  charters  in  order  to  make  a 
beginning  of  the  story  of  the  Constitution.  Remote  as  this 
beginning  may  at  first  si'i-m  from  thc^  tinu;  of  the  framing  of 


THE  FIRST  GENERAL  ASSEMBLY.  25 

our  national  Constitution,  it  is  plain  that  as  soon  as  the 
third  charter  of  Virginia  was  put  into  operation  in  the  colony 
the  idea  of  a  republican  form  of  government  had  taken  root 
in  America.  The  right  to  vote  was  conferred  on  the  mem- 
bers of  the  compan}^,  which  was  enlarged  to  include  English- 
men, strangers,  and  aliens.  Apprentices,  servants,  slaves, 
and  persons  not  admitted  to  the  company  could  not  vote. 
But  the  beginning  of  representative  government  was  made. 

In  April,  IGIO,  Sir  George  Yeardley  became  governor  of 
Virginia.  lie  abrogated  the  military  code  which  had  grown 
up  under  successive  governors  and  proclaimed  the  "  free 
laws  " — that  is,  the  common  law  of  England.  And  "  that  the 
planters  might  have  a  hand  in  the  governing  of  themselves," 
it  was  granted  that  "a  General  Assembly  should  be  held 
yearly  once ;  >vhereat  were  to  be  present  the  governor  and 
council  and  two  burgesses  from  each  plantation,  freely  to  be 
elected  by  the  inhabitants  thereof;  this  Assembly  to  have 
power  to  make  and  ordain  whatsoever  laws  and  orders  should 
by  them  be  thought  good  and  profitable  for  their  subsist- 
ence." The  number  of  burgesses  from  each  plantation  was 
suggested  by  the  two  burgesses  which  from  time  immemorial 
had  represented  the  old  English  shires  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons or  in  the  earlier  jjopular  assemblies  of  the  kingdom. 

Of  the  proceedings  and  acts  of  this  first  General  Assembly 
in  America  little  is  known.  The  governor  and  his  council 
sat  with  the  burgesses  and  participated  in  the  proceedings. 
The  speaker  chosen  was  not  a  burgess,  although  he  was  a 
councilor,  and  the  secretary  of  the  colony.  Observing  the 
forms  of  parliamentary  procedure,  the  Assembly  opened  with 
prayer.     It  examined  the  qualifications  of  its  elected   mem- 


26  THE  FIRST  AMERICAN  COXSTITUTWK 

bers;  it  passed  laws  concerning  drnnkonness,  idleness,  and 
card-playing;  it  fixed  the  price  of  tobacco,  the  staple  of  the 
colony;  it  formally  accepted  the  charter  of  10] 2  on  belialf 
of  the  colony,  and  fni-ther  declared  that  the  laws  of  the 
Assembly  should  be  the  sujjreme  laws  of  Virginia  without 
submitting  them  to  the  council  of  the  coinpnny  in  England. 
This  historic  Assembly  assembled  at  James  City,  on  Friday, 
the  30th  of  July,  1619,  and  eleven  plantations,  or,  as  may  l)e 
said,  parishes  or  counties,  were  represented.  The  division 
of  government  was  not  exact,  for  this  Assembly  sat  as  a 
coui't  as  well  as  a  legislative  body.  But  the  people  of  tlie 
colony  were  pleased.  In  their  own  midst  civil  government 
was  set  up  ;  familiar  institutions  were  about  them,  and 
thenceforth  Virginia  was  their  country  and  tlieir  home. 
Two  years  later,  on  the  24th  of  July,  the  council  of  the 
company  in  England  approved  the  course  of  the  Assembly 
by  passing  an  ordinance  establishing  a  written  constitution  for 
Virginia.  This  earliest  written  constitution  for  an  American 
commonwealth  was  modeled  after  the  unwritten  constitution 
of  England,  and  it  is  the  historical  foundation  for  all  later 
constitutions  of  goverimient  in  this  country.  "  Tlie  greatest 
comfort  and  benefit  to  the  people,  and  the  prevention  of. 
injustice,  grievances,  and  oppression,"  is  the  language  of  the 
ordinance  declaring  the  pur])ose  of  the  new  constitution,  and 
it  suggests  not  only  the  language  of  familiar  provisions  in  the 
declarations  of  rights  in  the  subsequent  State  constitutions, 
but  also  the  comprehensive  ]»ri'amble  of  the  Constitution  of 
tlie  United  States,  written  one  hundred  and  sixty  years  later 
— that  Constilut  ion  due  perhaps  more  than  to  any  other  indi- 
vidual to  a  distinguished  N'irginian,  James  Madison. 


CHECKS  AND  BALANCES.  27 

Between  tlie  General  Assembly  in  Virgijiia  and  the  council 
of  the  company  in  England  was  a  mutual  agi'eement  that 
the  acts  and  laws  jjassed  by  either  body  should  not  take  ef- 
fect uidess  ratiticd  by  the  other — the  first  instance  in  this 
country  of  the  introduction  of  a  system  of  "  checks  and  Ital- 
ances  "  in  government.  The  provision  may  be  described  as 
the  first  introduction  of  the  veto  power  in  America.  With 
the  entrance  of  the  burgess  into  civil  power  by  tlie  choice  of 
the  qualified  citizens  began  popular  government  on  this  con- 
tinent, and  not  popular  government  alone,  but  also  the 
struggle  between  king  and  peoi)le — between  the  monarchical 
idea  and  tlie  republican  idea;  a  struggle  which  terminated 
at  last  in  the  independence  of  the  United  States  and  the 
definitive  treaty  of  1783.  But  between  1619  and  1783  popu- 
lar assemblies  had  sprung  up  in  all  the  American  colonies, 
had  assumed  specific  functions,  and  had  come  to  exercise  im- 
portant powers.  Of  import  second  to  no  other  exercise  of 
power  was  the  right  claimed  and  exercised  by  the  lower 
house  of  the  colonial  legislatures  to  levy  taxes  and  to  apjjro- 
priate  public  moneys.  This  peculiar  right  claimed  by  the 
assemblies  found  its  pi-ecedent  in  the  House  of  Commons. 
The  delegates  to  the  colonial  assembly  represented  the 
electors,  the  people — the  sovereignty  newly  enthroned  in 
America.  Custom  made  stronger  year  by  year  the  ])owers 
exercised  at  first  with  shyness  by  the  delegates  in  the  as- 
semblies. But  custom  and  the  acquiescence  of  the  British 
government  rapidly  strengthened  the  confidence  of  the  as- 
semblies in  their  right  to  levy  taxes.  By  the  time  Geoigia 
was  founded  all  the  colonies  were  familiar  with  the  idea  that 
taxes  and  ap})roi)riations  of  public  money  should  be   con- 


28  COL  OX/A  L  ASSEMBLY  VERSUS  KLNG. 

trolled  by  the  delegates  in  the  lower  house.  The  royal  gov- 
ernors constantly  objected  to  this  assumption  of  power  by 
the  assemblies,  but  the  royal  governors  had  read  English 
history.  The  kings  had  lost  in  their  contest  with  Parlia- 
ment for  tlie  power  to  lay  taxes.  From  King  Jolni  had 
been  wrested  the  Great  Charter  in  1215,  and  thenceforth  it 
was  declared  that  the  king  must  rule  according  to  the  law 
of  the  land.  In  1649  Charles  I.  had  lost  his  life  in 
his  attempt  to  govern  Avithout  a  Parliament  and  to  levy 
taxes  in  his  own  name.  George  III.  did  not  renew  tlie 
struggle  with  the  colonial  assemblies,  nor  did  any  English 
monarch  from  the  first  Charles  to  the  third  George  attempt 
to  renew  it.  Perhaj^s  the  king  dimly  foresaw  that  counter- 
revolution in  America  which  was  to  wrest  from  an  "  omnipo- 
tent Parliament  "  a  taxing  power  claimed  by  the  represent- 
atives of  the  people  in  the  colonial  houses  of  assembly. 
Perhaps  the  royal  mind  dimly  caught  the  significance  of  the 
mortal  blow  against  that  Parliament  which  kings  in  England 
had  not  been  able  to  wield  when  kings  in  England  would 
have  wielded  that  blow  against  the  welfare  of  the  peo{)le, 
l)ut  Avhich  popular  assemblies  in  America  were  able  to  wield 
against  that  parliamentary  body  which  had  succeeded  to  the 
triumphs  won  by  Parliaments  over  kings.  The  revolution  of 
1770  Avas  unlike  the  revolution  of  1648.  In  England  King 
diaries  Avould  levy  ship-money;  in  America  it  Avas  Parlia- 
ment that  would  levy  ship-money.  England  was  Avilling  in 
1648  that  Parliament  should  levy  ship-money,  and  America 
in  177f)  llial,  a  Parliament  should  levy  ship-money;  but  the 
rarii.iitu'iit  ill  1770  must  be  a  Geiu-ral  Assembly,  a  lower 
house  of  the  colonial   legislature,  the  tnu^  American   Parlia- 


•      TAXES  AND  HOME  RULE.  29 

ment.  Tlierefoi-e  the  War  of  llic  Rovolutiou  was  not  a  war 
against  King  George  III.;  it  was  a  war  for  a  })rinci])]e 
Avliich  in  our  clay  is  called  local  self-government,  or  home 
rule.  That  the  British  Parliament  had  tlic  lawful  right  to 
levy  taxes  in  the  American  colonies  is  true.  That  the  colo- 
nies cared  to  be  represented  in  Parliament  by  delegates 
chosen  by  the  qualified  electors  in  America  is  not  wholly 
true.  Such  a  representation  was  desired  by  some  Americans, 
and  such  a  representation  was  theoretically  possible ;  l»ut  it 
was  practically  impossible.  The  inconvenience  of  such  a 
system  was  too  great  to  make  it  practicable.  It  became 
necessary  that  legislative  powers  should  be  exercised  in  the 
colonies,  by  the  colonies,  and  for  the  colonies  It  has  been 
customary  now  for  many  years  to  consider  the  American 
Revolution  as,  a  ^^olitical  revolution  chiefly,  as  a  struggle 
by  the  colonists  to  obtain  the  right  to  vote  and  to  have 
representation.  It  was  a  political  revolution  and  a  mighty 
changL^  in  the  politics  of  the  world,  but  it  was  even  more 
mighty  as  a  social  and  an  industrial  revolution,  and  in  a  last 
analysis  it  must  ai)pear  that  the  i^olitical  significance  of  the 
whole  war  depended  upon  and  followed  and  took  meaning 
from  the  industrial,  the  economic  conditions  of  America  and 
the  Americans  during  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  cent- 
ury— conditions  wdiich  had  been  in  process  of  identification 
ever  since  the  organization  of  government  in  the  oldest 
colony.  The  whole  dispute  was  a  dispute  about  taxes;  not 
a  disjjute  that  taxes  be  laid  or  not  laid,  but  a  dis2:)ute  as 
to  who  should  levy  them;  nor  Avas  it  denied  that  a  legislative 
body  should  levy  them.  The  question  was,  which  legislative 
body,  the  English  Parliament,  or  the  American  Assembly  ? 


30  THE  FIRST  AMEIUCAN'  CONVENTION. 

But  the  Americans  were  not  guilty  of  undue  haste  in 
tlieir  journey  from  the  liouse  of  dependence  to  the  "  new 
roof"  of  nationality.  On  October  7,  1765,  twenty-eiglit 
delegates  from  all  the  colonies  except  Virginia,  New  Ilam^j- 
shire,  Georgia,  and  North  Carolina,  summoned  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts,  met  in  the  City 
Hall  in  New  York  to  take  into  consideration  the  state  of 
public  affairs.  This  first  American  Convention,  after  a  long 
debate,  decided  to  declare  that  the  liberties  of  America  were 
founded,  not  on  royal  charters,  but  on  natural  rights;  and 
they  issued  what  Judge  Story  has  called  "  i)erhaps  the  best 
general  summary  of  the  rights  and  liberties  asserted  by  all 
the  colonies."  This  declaration  of  October  19  sets  forth 
ideas  repeated  subsequently  at  length  in  the  declaration  of 
1774,  and  again,  more  comprehensively,  in  the  declaration  of 
1776,  "That  it  is  iiise})arably  essential  to  the  freedom  of  a 
l^eople  .  .  .  that  no  tnxes  be  imposed  on  them  but  with 
their  own  consent,  given  personally  or  by  their  representa- 
tives;" and  "that  the  people  of  these  colonies  are  not  and 
from  their  local  circumstances  cannot  be  represented  in  the 
House  of  Commons  in  Great  Britain."  The  whole  question 
of  taxation  was  comprised  in  the  resolution,  "That  the  only 
representatives  of  the  jieople  of  these  colonies  are  persons 
chosen  therein  by  themselves;  and  that  no  taxes  ever  have 
Ik'cu  or  can  be  constitutionally  imposed  on  them  but  by  their 
respective  legislatures." 

Meant iirie  PaiTiament  had  laid  an  indirect  tax  on  the 
Americans.  Tlic  (ax  on  tea  affected,  it  was  thought  by  its 
English  oi-iginators,  only  those  who  consumed  tea  ;  the  tax 
on  legal  papers  only  the  litigious  people  Avho  had  business 


THE  FIRST  CONGRESS.  31 

in  the  courts.  Tlie  Stanij)  Act  of  1765  brought  face  to  face 
the  two  couteiKling  powers — tlie  i)ower  in  Parliament  and 
the  power  in  the  coh)nial  assemblies  to  tax  tlie  Americans. 
The  Revolution  had  begun.  It  began  not  Avith  fife  and 
drum  and  battles  between  armed  men.  It  began  in  the  as- 
semblies and  among  their  constituents,  the  people.  On  the 
5th  of  September,  1774,  an  assembly  of  delegates  met  at 
Philadelphia,  consisting  of  men  appointed  by  the  lower  house 
of  the  colonial  legislatures  or  specially  chosen  by  popular' 
conventions.  This  assembly  was  the  first  Continental  Con- 
gress. It  organized  a  revolutionary  government  and  forbade 
further  commerce  with  England.  On  the  10th  of  May  of 
the  following  year  the  second  Congress  assembled  in  the 
same  historic  city.  Nearly  all  of  its  members  were  chosen 
by  conventions  specially  called  by  the  people.  This  Congress 
organized  an  army  and  a  navy;  created  a  treasury  depart- 
ment; established  a  postal  service,  and  issued  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence. 

The  people  in  their  colonial  assemblies  had  seized  the 
citadel  of  government  many  years  before,  and  it  was  only  a 
matter  of  time  when  independence  would  be  claimed  and 
acknowledged.  From  1619  to  1775  every  colony  became 
familiar  with  the  forms,  the  procedures,  and  the  legislation 
of  organized  governments  based  uj^on  the  idea  of  popular 
representation.  It  was  not  disputed  that  the  assemblies 
should  control  taxation.  Retrogression  was  impossible.  To 
king  and  to  Parliament  the  assemblies  had  become  not 
merely  offensive,  but  menacing.  The  "  injuries  and  usurpa- 
tions all  having  in  direct  object  the  estal)]ishment  of  an  ab- 
solute tyranny  over  these  States,"  as  set  forth  in  the  Decla- 


82  KING  AND  PRESIDENT. 

ration  of  Independence,  are  nearly  all  concerning  the  laws  or 
the  legislative  powers  of  the  colonial  assemblies.  The  acts 
of  these  assemblies  were  described  as  "  wholesome  and  nec- 
essary for  the  public  good,"  and  the  accusation  against  the  king 
was  his  refusal  to  give  his  assent  to  these  laws.  A  parallel 
would  not  be  wholly  wanting  if,  in  case  a  President  of  the 
United  States  should  veto  some  piece  of  jio^^ular  legislation 
in  Congress,  the  leaders  in  that  legislation  should  remonstrate 
to  the  President  and  complain  that  he  had  refused  his  assent 
to  laws  "  Avholesome  and  necessary  to  the  public  good."  But 
the  parallel  fails  badly  when  it  is  ]uirsued  to  any  length. 
The  time  may  come  when  the  American  historian  may  find 
a  parallel  between  the  accusations  against  George  III. 
and  the  accusations  against  President  Johnson,  the  accusa- 
tions in  either  case  being  grounded  on  a  dispute  concerning 
legislative  and  executive  functions.  In  the  case  of  the  Presi- 
dent the  accusations  were  drawn  by  a  committee  of  Con- 
gress; in  the  case  of  the  king  they  were  drawn  by  a  com- 
mittee of  the  people  of  the  colonies  constituting  a  Congress. 
But  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter  in  these  two  cases 
was  unlike:  the  king  lost;  the  President  won.  The  king 
lost  because,  with  Parliament,  he  was  hindering  the  progress 
of  representative  governnuMit  among  the  colonies,  where  that 
government,  already  long  established,  must  necessarily  dc- 
velo})  national  iiKlcpendcnce.  The  President  won  because, 
in  a  struggle  between  the  executive  aiid  a  l)arty  in  Congress, 
the  indciifudcncc  of  the  executive  was  endangered,  and  Con- 
gress was  unwilling  to  establish  a  precedent  which  might 
work  untold  mischief  in  the  country.  The  impeachment  of 
I'rcsidcnt    Johns(jn    was    not    an    impeachment    because    he 


CHARGES  AGAINST  THE  KING.  33 

sought  to  levy  taxes  without  the  consent  of  Congress,  be- 
cause he  could  not  levy  taxes  with  the  consent  of  Congress, 
The  impeachment  of  the  President  was  on  grounds  tliat  he 
had  refused  to  execute  certain  laws  |)assc(l  l>y  Congress, 
or  had  executed  these  laws  in  a  manner  not  intended  by 
Congress.  The  accusation  against  King  George  III.  was 
his  refusal  to  assent  to  laws  made  for  tlie  }!ul)lic  good  after 
the  colonial  assemblies  had  passed  them.  In  each  instance 
the  accusation  touches  on  the  assemblies;  nor  should  any 
person  who  seeks  to  understand  the  story  of  government  in 
the  United  States  hope  to  understand  it  without  reading  and 
re-reading  these  solemn  charges  in  the  Declaration"  of  1776, 
which  bring  into  just  prominence  the  central  idea  of  the 
wliole  struggle — the  taxing  power  in  the  colonial  assem- 
blies. In  formulating  their  charges  against  the  king,  who 
stands  for  botli  king  and  Parliament,  the  framers  of  the 
Declaration  affirm: 

"  lie  has  forbidden  his  governors  to  pass  Laws  of  imme- 
di#ite  and  pressing  importance  unless  suspended  in  their 
operation  till  his  assent  should  be  obtained;  and  when  so 
suspended,  he  has  utterly  neglected  to  attend  to  them. 

"  He  has  refused  to  pass  other  Laws  for  tlie  accommoda- 
tion of  large  districts  of  people,  unless  those  peo]ile  would 
irlinquish  the  right  of  Representation  in  the  Legislature,  a 
right  inestimable  to  them  and  formidable  to  tyrants  onl}^ 

"  He  has  called  together  legislative  bodies  at  places  un- 
usual, uncomfortable,  and  distant  from  the  depository  of 
their  Public  Records,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  fatiguing  them 
into  compliance  with  his  measures., 

"  He  has  dissolved  Representative  Houses  rejieatedly,  for 


S4  THE  A  CCrSA  TTOK 

opposing  with  manly  firmness  his  invasions  on  the  rights  of 
the  people. 

"  He  has  i-efused  for  a  long  time,  after  such  dissolutions, 
to  cause  others  to  be  elected  ;  whereby  the  Legislative 
Powers,  incapable  of  Annihilation,  have  returned  to  the 
People  at  large  for  their  exercise;  the  State  reriiaining  in 
the  meantime  exposed  to  all  the  dangers  of  invasion  from 
without  and  convulsions  within. 

"  He  has  endeavored  to  prevent  the  population  of  these 
States  ;  foi-  that  purpose  ol)structing  the  Laws  for  Naturali- 
zation of  Foreigners  ;  refusing  to  pass  others  to  encourage 
their  migration  hither,  and  raising*  the  conditions  of  new 
Appropriations  of  Lands. 

"  He  has  obstructed  the  Administration  of  Justice,  by 
refusing  his  Assent  to  Laws  for  establishing  Judiciary 
Powers, 

"He  has  made  Judges  dependent  on  his  AVill  alone,  f(jr 
the  tenure  of  their  offices,  and  the  amount  and  })ayment  oi 
their  salaries. 

"  He  has  erected  a  multitude  of  New  Offices,  and  sent 
hither  swarms  of  Officers  to  harass  our  People,  and  eat  out 
their  substance. 

"He  has  kept  among  us,  in  times  of  peace,  Standing 
Armies  without  the  Consent  of  our  legislature. 

"  He  l)as  affected  to  render  tiie  JMilitary  independent  of 
and  superior  to  the  Civil  Power. 

"  He  has  combined  with  others  to  subject,  us  to  a  juris- 
diction foreign  to  our  constitution,  and  unacknowledged  by 
our  Laws;  giving  his  Assent  to  their  Acts  of  pretended 
Legislati(jn  : 


CHARGES  AGAINST  THE  KING.  35 

"For  quartering  large  bodies  of  armed  men  among  us: 

"  For  protecting  them,  by  a  mock  Trial,  from  Punishment 
for  any  JMurders  which  they  should  commit  on  the  Inhab- 
itants of  these  States: 

"  For  cutting  off  our  Trade  with  all  ])art8  of  the  world: 

"For  imposing  taxes  on  us  Avithout  our  Consent: 

"  ¥oY  de])riving  us,  in  many  cases,  of  the  benefits  of  Trial 
by  Jury: 

"  For  transporting  us  beyond  Seas  to  be  tried  for  pre- 
tended offenses: 

"  For  abolishing  the  free  System  of  English  Laws  in  a 
neighboring  Province,  establishing  therein  an  Arbitrary  gov- 
ernment, and  enlarging  its  Boundaries  so  as  to  render  it  at 
once  an  example  and  fit  instrument  for  introducing  the  same 
absolute  rule  into  these  Colonies: 

"  For  taking  away  our  Charters,  abolishing  our  most  val- 
uable Laws,  and  altering  fundamentally  the  Forms  of  our 
Governments: 

*  "  For  suspending  our  own  Legislatures,  and  declaring 
themselves  invested  with  Power  to  legislate  for  us  in  all 
cases  Avhatsoever, 

"  He  has  abdicated  Government  here,  b}"  dec^laring  us  out 
of  his  Protection  and  waging  War  against  us." 

Much  might  be  written  in  exposition  of  these  charges,  but 
the  substance  of  all  exposition  is  the  evidence  that  the  essen- 
tial difference  between  the  colonists  and  the  English  govern- 
ment Avas  concerning  legislation  in  the  colonial  assemblies. 
King  and  Parliament  wished  to  get  rid  of  the  assemblies, 
and  the  assemblies  wished  to  get  rid  of  king  and  Parliament. 
Th(!  legal  right  of  Parliament  to  tax  the  Americans  is  indis- 


36  ENGLAND'S    WANTS. 

putable,  but  the  Americans  liad  otitgrowu  their  willingness 
to  submit  to  that  legal  right.  '^hey  thought  that  to  tax 
themselves  was  their  natural  right  ;  and  to  tax  tlieniselves 
was  essentially  to  govern  themselves.  Parliament  and  king, 
like  CfBsar  when  he  crossed  the  Rubicon,  had  the  law  technic- 
ally on  their  side;  but  the  Americans  believed  that  the  law 
was  wrong.  For  a  brief  time  in  the  history  of  the  four 
Georges  king  and  Parliament  united  in  a  common  cause 
against  the  rebellious  Americans  ;  but  events,  complex  in 
their  nature  and  international  in  importance,  dictated  strange 
results.  The  lack  of  great  soldiers  in  England  cut  the  king- 
dom oflf  from  services  in  America  such  as  earlier  in  the  cent- 
ury had  been  done  by  Marlborough  in  the  Low  Countries,  or 
a  generation  later  in  the  early  years  of  the  nineteenth  century 
Avere  done  by  Wellington  in  Spain  and  in  Belgium.  The 
j)ossible  service  of  Lord  Clive  in  America  was  prevented  by 
his  sudden  and  terrible  death,  or  perhaps  Washington  and 
Greene  would  have  met  a  leader  Avorthy  of  their  poAvers.  The 
distance  of  the  field  of  operations  from  England  ;  the  bitter- 
ness of  political  factions  in  Parliament  Avhen  the  cause  of 
America  had  liroken  the  transient  solidarity  of  opposing  scn- 
tinient  ;  the  French  alliance;  the  unflinching  perseverance 
of  the  Americans  and  their  patriotism  almost  unparalleled; 
and  the  jiaradoxical  course  of  affairs  in  the  United  States — 
military  success  and  conservatism  and  unprecedented  and 
acknowledged  feebleness  of  the  ci\  il  autliority  at  the  same 
time — arc  sonic  of  the  clciiiciits  and  factors  wliic'h  at  last 
w  ioii'_;lil,  out  ^Vuici'lcaii  iial  ioiialil  y. 

The  ('ongrcss  wliicli    issued    the   I  )eclar:il  ion   of  Independ- 
ence was  (lest  ine(l  to  experience   strange  vicissit  udi'S.      \\\  a 


aOYEENMENT  TAKEN  Ur.  37 

succession  of  delegates,  irregularly  kept  up  by  the  colonies, 
now  become  States,  this  Congress  kept  in  session  throughout 
the  Revolutionary  War,  cxj)iring  at  last,  for  want  of  a 
quorum,  a  few  Jays  before  the  inauguration,  in  1*780,  of  the 
national  govermnent  under  which  we  now  live. 

The  second  Continental  Congress  had  been  in  session  just 
one  year  when  it  passed  a  resolution  recommending  each 
colony  to  form  a  State  government.  The  critical  change 
thus  suggested  was  an  easy  one.  Connecticut  and  Rhode 
Island  were  the  oidy  colonies  which  made  no  change  in  their 
civil  organization,  but  continued  under  their  libei'al  charters. 
These  two  colonies  had  long  enjoyed  the  republican  form  of 
government.  Coimecticut,  under  her  old  charter  of  1662, 
had  organized  her  civil  life  upon  so  popular  a  basis  that  she 
continued  her  frame  of  government  until  1818  almost  un- 
changed. Rhode  Island,  similarly  situated,  under  her  charter 
of  1663,  continued  her  plan  of  civil  organization  unchanged 
until  1842.  But  in  eleven  of  the  colonies  the  recommendation 
oJi»Congress  "  to  take  up  civil  government  "  was  followed  with 
alacrity.  Conventions  to  forni  new  State  constitutions  soon 
were  called,  and  during  the  next  two  years  written  consti- 
tutions were  ])roclaimed  in  these  eleven  States.  Massachu- 
setts submitted  the  work  of  her  convention  of  1778  to  the 
people,  and  it  Avas  rejected.  A  secoiul  convention  was  called 
in  that  State,  which  Avas  in  session  from  September  1,  1770, 
to  January  16,  1780.  The  constitution  made  by  this  con- 
vention was  submitted  to  popular  vote,  was  adopted,  and 
remains  to  this  day,  with  a  few  unimportant  modifications 
adapting  it  to  changed  conditions,  the  fundamental  law  of 
that  State.     It  is  the  only  constitution  of  those  fii'st  made  by 


38  STATE  CONSTITUTION  MAKING  THEN  AND  NOW. 

the  States  whicli  has  survived,  and  is  the  oldest  written  con- 
stitution in  America.  Nine  States  did  not  suljniit  their  con- 
stitutions to  popuhir  vote.  The  times  were  times  of  war,  and 
the  conventions  which  framed  the  first  constitutions  inter- 
preted the  wants  of  their  States  so  closely  that,  Avithout 
doubt,  each  constitution  would  liave  been  approved,  although 
not  witli  heavy  majorities  in  some  of  tlie  States,  because  tlie 
revolutionary  feeling  Avas  not  equally  strong  in  all  parts  of 
America.  It  is  now  customary  to  submit  a  new  constitution 
to  the  people  for  ratification.  In  each  of  the  six  new  States 
of  1889-1890  the  constitution  Avas  submitted  to  the  electors 
and  adopted  ;  in  three  of  the  States  a  special  clause  being 
submitted  separately  from  the  body  of  the  constitution.  In 
Mississipi»i  the  new  constitution  of  1890  was  promulgated  as 
in  force  by  the  convention  which  framed  it.  The  custom  in 
America  is  submission  for  ratification.  Between  1776  and 
1789  nearly  all  the  States  framed  new  constitutions.  But 
only  Massachusetts  and  New  Jersey  submitted  their  consti- 
tutions to  the  test  of  a  po])ular  vote.  It  was  mau}^  years  in 
some  States  before  a  constitution  which  had  received  popular 
approval  at  the  polls  became  the  supreme  law.  The  consti- 
tution of  New  York  of  177G  continued  in  foi-ce  until  18lM. 
Maryland's  constitution  of  1776  was  displaced  by  her  second 
constilution  of  1X50.  North  Cai'olina  continued  her  consti- 
tution of  177(J  till  18(55.  New  Jersey  framed  a  second  con- 
stitution in  1844.  Vermont  supjilantcd  lier  constitution  of 
1785  by  another  seven  years  later.  The  constitution  of 
South  (-arolina  of  1790  lasted  seventy  years.  (Jeorgia  lived 
iiihIci-  I  he  constitution  of  1788  until  it  was  superseded  by 
t  lit' constit  lit  ion  of  l.s;i9.      Delaware  framed  a  constitution  in 


EXPKlilENCE  Dfi'TATES.  39 

1792  which  wus  in  I'orce  till  I80I.  Tiie  eoustilutiou  of 
l'cnu5*ylv;ini.i  (if  177(5  gave  place  to  that  of  1789,  whicii  was 
approved  l»y  the  people;  and  the  constitution  of  1789  was 
supplanted  by  a  small  popidar  vote  hy  the  constitution 
of  1837.* 

In  1770  there  was  a  substantial  unanimity  of  o})inion 
throughout  the  country  concerning  the  essentials  of  JState 
government.  Each  State  put  in  written  foini  the  system  of 
government  to  which    it  was   accustomed  or   for  which  the 

*  New  State  CoNSTrruTiON'S. — The  Slates  have  framed  eonsiitntiuns  as 
follows  (the  States  are  named  in  the  order  in  which  tliey  came  into  the 
Union) : 

1.  Delaware,  1776,   1792.  1831. 

2.  Penn.«ylvania,  1776,  1790,  1838,  1873. 

3.  New  Jersey,  1776,  1844. 

4.  Georgia,  1777,  1789,  179S,  18:i9,  1868,  1877. 

5.  Ct)nnecticut,  Charter  of  1662,  Constitntiou  of  1818. 

6.  Massaciiusetts,  1780. 

7.  Maryland,  1776,  1851,  1864,  1867. 

8.  South  Carolina,  1776.  1778,  1790,  1868. 

9.  New  Hampshire,  1776,  1781,  1792,  1876. 

10.  Virginia,  1776,  1830,  1850,  1870. 

11.  New  York,  1777,  1821,  1846. 

12.  North  Carolina,  1776,  1868,  1876. 

13.  Rhode  Island,  Charter  of  1663,  Constilntiuu  of  1842. 

14.  Vermont,    admitted    March    4,    1791,     Free.      Constitutions,     1776, 

1786,  1793. 

15.  Kentnck}',  admitted   Jnne   1,  1792,  Slave.     Constitntions,  1792,  1799, 

1850,  1891. 

16.  Tennessee,  Jnne  1,  1796,  Slave.     1834,  1865,  1870. 

17.  Ohio,  November  29,  1802,  Free.      1851. 

IS.  Louisiana,  April  30,  1812,  Slave.      1845,  1852,  1868,  1879. 
r.).  Indiana,  December  11,  1816,  Free.     1851. 

20.  Missi'^sippi,  December  10,  1817.  Slave.     1832,  1868,  1890. 

21.  Illinois,  December  3,  1818,  Free.     1848,  187i>. 

22.  Alabama,  December  14,  1819,  Slave.     1867,  1875. 

23.  Maine.  March  15,  1820,  Free. 


40  THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  MASSACHUSETTS. 

colony  liad  been  striving  for  many  years.  No  niei'e  experi- 
ments were  made.  If  the  constitution  of  Massachusetts  may 
be  cited  for  ilhistration — and  it  differed  but  slightly  from  other 
State  constitutions  framed  in  the  eighteenth  century  in  Amer- 
ica— the  course  of  constitution-making  in  the  States  from  1776 
to  1790  is  plain.  A  preamble  declares  the  purpose  of  gov- 
ernment "to  secure  the  existence  of  the  body  politic;  to 
l)rotect  it;  and  to  furnish  the  individuals  who  compose  it 
with  the  power  of  enjoying  in  safety  and  tranquillity  their 
natural  rights  and  the  blessings  of  life.  And  whenever 
these  objects  are  not  obtained  the  people  have  a  right  to 
alter  the  government  and  to  take  measures   necessary  for 

24.  Missouri,  August  10,  1821,  Slave.      1865,  1875. 

25.  Arkansas,  June  15,  1836,  Slave.     1868,  1874. 

26.  Michigan,  January  26,  1837,  Free.     1850 

27.  Florida,  March  3,  1845,  Slave.     1865,  1868,  1886. 

28.  Texas,  December  29,  1845,  Slave.     1866,  1868,  1876. 

29.  Iowa,  December  28,  1846,  Free.     1857. 
-30.  Wisconsin,  May  29,  1848.     Free. 

31.  California,  September  9,  1850,  Free.     1879. 

32.  Minnesota,  May  11,  1858.     Free. 

33.  Oregon,  February  14,  1859.     Free. 

34.  Kansas,  January  29,  1861.     Free.     (Slave   constitution,   1855;   free 

constitution  in  1857;  slave  constitution  iu  1858;  a  Tree  constitu- 
tion in  1859,  on  which  the  State  was  admitted.) 

35.  West  Virginia,  June  19,  1863,  Free.     1872. 

36.  Nevada,  October  31,  186-1.     Free. 

37.  Nebraslci,  March  1,  1867.     1375. 

38.  Colorado,  August  1,  1876. 

39.  North  Dakota,  November  2,  1 889. 

40.  South  Dakota,  November  2,  1889. 

41.  Montana,  Nove.iaber  8,  1889. 

42.  Washington,  November  11,  1889. 

43.  Idaho,  July  3,  1890. 

44.  Wyoming.  July  10,  1890.     Sec  the  author's  UoUfnuuiid  of  the  Ptople 

vf  llo:  United  States,  p.  294. 


G  0  VERNMENT  fX  MA  S/^A  CIIUSETTS.  4 1 

iheir  safety,  prosperity,  and  liap})iiiess.  Tlie  body  politic 
is  formed  by  a  voluntary  association  of  individuals.  It  is  a 
social  compact  by  which  the  whole  people  covenants  wit'i 
eacli  citizen  and  each  citizen  with  the  whole  people  that  all 
shall  be  governed  by  certain  laws  for  the  common  good.  It 
is  tlie  duty  of  the  people,  therefore,  in  framing  a  constitution 
of  government,  to  provide  for  an  equitable  mode  of  making 
laws  as  well  as  for  an  impartial  interpretation  and  a  faithful 
execution  of  them;  that  every  man  may  at  all  times  find  his 
security  in  them.  We,  therefore,  the  people  of  Massachu- 
setts, acknowledging  with  grateful  hearts  the  goodness  of 
the  Great  Legislator  of  the  Universe  in  affording  us,  in 
the  course  of  his  Providence,  an  opportunity,  deliberately 
and  peaceably,  without  fraud,  violence,  or  surprise,  of  enter- 
ing into  an  original,  explicit,  and  solemn  compact  with  each 
other,  and  of  forming  a  new  constitution  of  civil  govern- 
ment, for  ourselves  and  our  posterity,  and  devoutly  implor- 
ing his  direction  in  so  interesting  a  design.  Do  agree  upon, 
ordain,  and  establish  the  following  declaration  of  rights  and 
frame  of  government."  The  declaration  of  rights  in  this 
constitution,  essentially  the  same  in  the  other  States,  sets 
forth  the  civil  rights  of  the  citizens.  Free  and  equal  b)'- 
l^irth,  all  men  have  certain  natural,  essential,  and  unalienable 
rights:  to  life  and  liberty;  to  property  and  to  happiness;  to 
freedom  in  the  •worship  of  God;  to  free  elections  and  the 
impartial  administration  of  the  laws;  to  jury  trial  and  ex- 
emption from  unreasonable  searches  and  seizures;  to  liberty 
of  the  press;  to  keep  and  to  bear  arms;  to  peaceable  assem- 
bling and  to  petition;  to  freedom  of  debate  in  legislatures; 
to  immunity  i'rom  ex  post  facto  laws — that  is,   from  "laws 


42  LAWS,  NOT  MEN. 

made  to  })uni.sh  for  actions  done  before  the  existence  of  sncli 
laws  and  wliicli  liave  not  been  declared  crimes  by  preccflin'^- 
laws;"  to  freedom  from  excessive  bail  or  sureties,  from  ex- 
cessive tines,  or  cruel  or  unusual  punishments;  to  exem|)ti()U 
from  the  (quartering  of  soldiers  in  private  houses  without 
the  owner's  consent  in  time  of  peace,  or  in  time  of  war  save 
as  the  law  may  prescribe.  These  fundamental  notions  in 
government  are  set  forth  in  all  the  State  constitutions  and 
are  to  be  traced  in  enactments  by  colonial  assemblies,  to 
provisions  in  the  English  Bill  of  Rights  of  1689,  to  the 
Great  Charter,  or  to  the  unwritten  law  of  England;  and 
many  of  them  to  a  time  in  Anglo-Saxon  history  beyond  the 
memory  of  man.  They  represent  settled  ideas  of  govern- 
ment; they  are  no  longer  disputed;  but  they  were  the  prin- 
cipal subjects  of  dispute  down  to  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  both  in  Europe  and  in  America. 

"  In  the  government  of  this  Commonwealth,"  continues 
the  constitution  of  Massachusetts,  "the  legislative  depart- 
ment sliall  never  exercise  tlie  executive  and  judicial  powers, 
or  either  of  them;  the  executive  shall  never  exercise  the 
legislative  and  judicial  powers,  or  either  of  them;  the  ju- 
dicial shall  never  exercise  the  legislative  au'l  executive 
powers,  or  cither  of  them;  to  tlie  end  it  may  be  a  goveiMi- 
mcnt  of  laws  and  not  of  men." 

The  legislative  powers  were  vested  in  the  general  court, 
l'onnc(l  by  two  braiiclics,  a  Senate  and  a  ITouse  of  Repre- 
sent at  ixcs.  The  legislature  assend)led  aniuially  and  passed 
all  laws  adjudged  necessary  lor  the  welfare  of  the  people  of 
the  ( 'onnnonwealth.  'I'heic  was  no  limitation  on  the  legisla- 
ture, as  is  so  commonly  found  in  all  Stat(^  constitutions  made 


Q  UA  LTFICA  TIONS.  43 

(luring  the  lust  tliirty  years.  The  governor  revised  each  hiw, 
and  if  lie  aj^proved  it  he  signed  it;  if  he  did  not  ai)|)rove  it 
he  retiirne(l  it  with  his  ol)jeetion  to  the  house  in  which  it 
originated.  The  two  houses  could  reconsider  tlie  bill  so  re- 
turned, and  l>y  a  two-thirds  vote  })ass  it,  and  it  became  a 
law  as  if  the  governor  had  signed  it.  The  Senate  was  com- 
posed of  a  smaller  number  of  members  than  was  the  House 
of  Representatives.  The  senators  represented  districts  into 
which  the  State  was  divided,  each  district  consisting  of  sev- 
eral towns,  or,  as  they  are  more  commonly  known  outside  of 
New  England,  counties.  Senators  were  cliosen  in  1780  at 
county  meetings  by  the  male  inhabitants  of  the  State, 
of  the  age  of  twenty-one  years  or  more,  having  real 
estate  within  the  Commonwealth  of  the  annual  income 
of  £3,  or  any  estate  of  the  value  of  £60.  The  dwelling- 
place  or  home  of  the  elector  determined  his  legal  residence 
and  place  of  voting.  The  senator  himself  was  required  to 
possess  a  land  estate  in  the  C'ommonweahh  of  the  value  of 
£300  at  least,  or  to  be  jiossessed  of  personal  estate  to  the 
value  of  £000,  or  of  both,  to  the  amount  of  the  same  sum. 
He  was  also  required  to  be  an  iidiabitant  of  the  State  for 
a  term  of  five  years  immediately  preceding  his  election,  and 
also  to  be  an  inhabitant  of  the  district  in  which  he  was 
chosen.  The  mention  of  personal  property  implies  that  bj' 
1780  there  had  been  a  great  change  in  ])roperty-holding  in 
America,  and  that  opinions  concerning  ])ro])erty  had  greatly 
changed.  In  1619,  in  Virginia,  it  is  doubtful  if  the  personal 
]n"operty  of  the  entire  community  amounted  in  value  to 
1*600.  By  1780  the  value  of  personal  property  in  Massa- 
chusetts was  almost  as  ajreat  as  the  value  of  real  estate. 


44  THE  MEMBER  OF  THE  HOUSE. 

The  House  of  Representatives  was  comixtsed  of  members 
distributed  according  to  the  popuhition  of  the  corporate 
towns.  It  was  a  larger  body  than  the  Senate.  Each  town 
liad  at  least  one  representative.  Massachusetts  Avas  the  first 
colony  to  introduce  the  written  ballot,  about  1634,  and 
members  of  the  legislature  were  chosen  by  written  votes. 
To  be  eligible  to  the  House  of  Representatives  a  man  was 
required  to  be  for  one  year  an  inhabitant  of  the  town  in 
which  he  was  a  candidate,  and  to  be  owner  in  his  own  right 
of  real  estate  of  the  value  of  £100,  situated  within  the  town 
Avhich  he  would  be  chosen  to  represent.  Or  he  was  to  possess 
any  ratable  estate,  such  as  personal  property,  to  the  value  of 
£200.  If  after  his  election  he  lost  his  ])ro}ierty  so  as  to  be- 
come disqualified  for  being  a  representative,  he  thereby 
ceased  to  represent  the  town.  The  member  of  the  House  of 
Representatives  was  not  required  to  possess  so  much  ]»roperty 
as  was  the  member  of  the  Senate,  for  the  reason  that  he  did 
not  represent  so  much  property.  The  district  was  represented 
as  a  whole  by  the  senator;  the  town,  by  the  member  of  the 
House.  A  person  qualified  to  vote  for  senator  was  also 
qualified  to  vote  for  a  member  of  the  House  or  for  governor. 
No  person  was  eligible  to  the  office  of  governor  unless  at 
the  time  of  his  election  he  had  been  an  inhabitant  of  the 
Commonwealth  for  seven  years  pi-ceeding,  and  at  tiie  same 
time  owner  of  a  freehold  estate  within  the  State  of  the  value- 
of  £1,000;  and  unless  he  declared  himself  to  be  of  the  Chris- 
tian religion.  The  lieutenant-governor  was  recpiired  to  be 
(pialified  like  the  governor.  He  was  a  member  of  the  gov- 
ern* n's  council,  and  succeeded  him  as  governor  of  the  Com- 
monwealth in  case  the  gubernatorial  chair  became  vacant  by 


THE  COUNCIL.  45 

reason  of  the  death  of  tlie  governor,  or  liis  absence  from  the 
State,  or  liis  inability  to  perform  the  duties  of  his  office. 
Nine  councih>rs  were  annually  eliosen  fi-oni  among  the  per- 
sons returned  for  councilors  and  senators  by  the  joint  ballot 
of  the  two  houses  of  the  legislature.  In  case  any  of  tlie  nine 
persons  so  cliosen  declined  a  seat  in  the  council  the  deficiency 
was  made  up  by  an  election  by  the  two  houses  from  among 
the  people  at  large.  The  number  of  senators  left  constituted 
the  Senate,  but  a  councilor  was  required  to  vacate  his  seat 
in  the  Senate,  or  the  executive  and  the  legislative  duties 
would  have  been  confused.  The  council,  which  still  exists 
in  the  Massachusetts  and  Maine  system  of  government,  in 
New  Hampshire  and  Vermont,  and  till  1886  in  Florida,  was 
for  the  aid  and  advice  of  the  governor.  All  judicial  officers 
were  appointed  by  the  governor  with  the  consent  of  the 
Senate,  and  held  office  during  good  behavior.  To  this 
tenure  of  office  minor  judicial  officers  of  the  rank  of  magis- 
trates, and  below  that  rank,  were  an  exception,  holding  their 
offices  for  a  term  of  years.  The  governor  and  the  legislature, 
or  either  of  thein,  could  require  the  opinion  of  the  justices 
of  the  Supreme  Court  upon  important  questions  of  law.  The 
delegates  to  Congress  were  elected  by  the  joint  ballot  of  the 
two  houses,  to  serve  in  Congress  for  one  year.  Any  of  them 
could  1)e  recalled  at  any  time  within  the  year  and  others  be 
chosen  in  the  same  manner  in  their  stead.  Whenever  two 
thirds  of  the  electors  in  the  Commonwealth  desired  a  revision 
of  the  constitution  the  legislature  was  required  to  cause  an 
election  of  delegates  to  assemble  in  convention  for  that  pur- 
pose. Under  this  provision  the  constitution  of  1780  has 
been   amended   thirteen    times.     Provision   was    made    for 


46  THE  CO  MM  OX  PLAN. 

education  by  incorporating  the  university  at  Cambridge 
under  tlie  control  of  the  i^resident  and  fellows  of  Harvard 
College,  and  by  ])roviding  fur  ])ublic  schools,  grammar 
schools,  and  for  institutions  for  the  promotion 'of  science, 
arts,  commei'ce,  trade,  manufactures,  and  agriculture,  and  for 
the  encouragement  of  ])ublic  and  private  charities,  industry, 
frugality,  honesty,  and  punctuality  in  business,  "and  all 
social  affections  and  generous  sentiments  among  the  people." 

The  legislature  exercised  its  jjowers  at  its  discretion,  and 
the  governor  was  given  the  pardoning  power,  to  be  exercised 
''by  and  with  (he  advice  and  consent  of  the  council."  lie 
was  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  and  navy,  and  of  all 
military  forces  of  the  State.  lie  signed  all  commissions,  ap- 
])ointed  all  judges,  and  with  the  consent  of  the  council  could 
remove  them  upon  the  address  so  to  do  of  both  houses  of  the 
legislature. 

On  this  general  ])lan  the  State  governments  in  America  in 
1776  were  framed.  For  a  few  years  in  Georgia  and  in  Penn- 
sylvania the  legislature  consisted  of  a  single  house,  but  the 
second  constitutions  of  these  States  provided  for  two  houses. 
(Jovernment  was  tlierefore  organized,  distributed,  and  admin- 
istered in  the  thirteen  States  on  a  jilan  which  may  be  de- 
scril)ed  as  common.  In  the  details  of  State  constitutions 
there  were  many  differences,  differences  due  to  situation,  to 
prevailing  manners  and  customs,  to  the  industrial  conditions 
which  distinguished  the  several  States  from  each  other.  I>ut 
in  this  Itrief  story  of  the  C\)nstitution  these  details  cannot  be 
j)resented.  In  each  Slate  the  Ass(Mnbly  or  lower  house  of 
tlie  legislature,  was  the  central  autliority,  lor  to  tliat^  house 
had  the  p(;ople   delegated   that  sovereign   power,  the   powt'r 


TWO  CHEAT  CHANGES.  47 

to  levy  taxes  and  to  ai)piopiiate  moneys.  But  we  would 
greatly  err  Avere  we  to  impute  to  these  first  State  constitu- 
tions and  goviTniiK'nts  that  incaniiig,  form,  and  interpreta- 
tion Avliieh  are  given  to  Slate  constitutions  now  in  force. 
The  ide.is  which  i-eign  in  a  modern  State  constitU\tion  are  not 
so  simple  as  those  wliich  stand  foi'tli  in  the  constitutions  of 
tlie  eighteentli  century.  Two  great  changes  distinguish  that 
])eriod  and  the  present — tlie  industrial  change  and  the  polit- 
ical change.  By  tlie  industrial  change  the  whole  face  of  the 
country  presents  a  new  a}>j)eai'ance.  Bridle-]»aths  gave  place 
to  canals;  canals  gave  place  to  railroads  ;  railroads  divide  in 
importance  with  telegraph  and  telephone  lines.  Corpora- 
tions, not  dreamed  of  in  1780,  now  are  "bodies  ]»oIitic,"  as 
any  one  may  see  who  will  read  the  constitutions  of  the  six 
new  States.  Discoveries  and  inventions  and  industries  have 
Avholly  rewritten  the  Slate  constitutions,  and  not  only  re- 
written them  but  have  compelled  new  interpretations  of 
phrases  found  in  ancient  charters  but  now  employed  with 
modern  meanings.  The  industrial  ch.inges  have  compelled 
constitution-makers  to  provide  for  groui)s  of  interests  which 
have  come  into  American  life  since  the  days  of  the  second 
war  Avith  England.  A  recent  State  constitution  resembles  a 
code  of  laws  v/hen  it  is  compai-ecl  Avith  the  brief,  simple,  and 
comprehensive  summary  of  lundamental  civil  principles 
Avhich  composed  the  constitution  of  a  State  a  centur}^  ago. 
The  second  change  is  political,  and  affects  the  elector.  It  is, 
in  brief,  the  abolition  of  pro])erty  qualifications  and  religious 
tests  ;  it  is  the  liberation  «»f  tli(^  franchise.  The  i-estrictions 
on  the  franchise  under  tlie  Massachusetts  constitution  of 
IT.'^O  are  less  onerous  than  the  restrictions  which  prevailed 


48  PROPERTY  QUALIFICATION!^. 

in  some  of  the  States.  In  New  Jersey  the  elector  was  re- 
quired to  possess  £50;  in  Maryland,  fifty  acres  of  land;  in 
Delaware,  a  freehold  estate;  in  North  Carolina,  tifiy  acres 
of  land  ;  in  Georgia,  |10,  or  to  be  of  any  mechanical  trade;  in 
Nevy  York,  £20  in  real  estate  would  he  vote  for  a  member  of 
Assemlily,  and  £100  would  he  vote  for  a  member  of  the  State 
Senate;  in  South  Carolina,  fifty  acres  of  land;  in  Connecticut, 
an  estate  in  land  of  the  yearly  value  of  $7;  in  Rhode  Island, 
real  estate  of  the  value  of  |134;  in  Virginia  he  must  own  land; 
in  Pennsylvania,  fifty  acres;  and  in  New  Hampshire  and  Ver- 
mont he  was  required  to  pay  a  poll-tax.  Taxes  on  property 
were  levied  in  all  the  States.  Nor  Avere  property  qualifica- 
tions limited  to  the  elector;  the  executive  was  required  to 
possess  real  or  personal  estate  of  still  greater  value.  In  New 
Jersey  he  was  required  to  be  worth  £10,000  ;  in  North  Car- 
olina, £1,000;  in  South  Carolina,  £10,000;  in  Georgia,  £250, 
or  two  hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  land  ;  in  New  Hampshire, 
£500;  in  JMaryland,  £5,000,  of  which  £1,000  must  be  in 
land;  in  Delaware  he  must  be  a  land-owner,  and  custom 
fixed  the  qualification  at  not  less  than  landed  estate  of  the 
value  of  11,000;  in  New  York,  £100  in  real  property;  in 
llhodc  Island,  i5<i;U;  in  Massachuset,ts,  $1,000  ;  in  Coiniect- 
icut,  a  property  in  land  of  the  yearly  value  of  ^"1.  But  in 
Delaware,  in  New  York,  in  Rhode  Island,  and  in  Connect- 
icut oidy  nu'U  of  large  wealth  wei'e  ever  made  candidates  for 
governoi-,  and  it  may  be  said,  that  in  all  the  States  it  was 
chiefiy  from  old,  wealthy,  and  influential  families  that  the  ex- 
ecutive, the  judges,  ami  the  nu'inbers  of  the  u]iper  house  in 
the  legislatui'e  were  chosen;  to  the  lower  house  a  poor  man 
niighl  lioiie  to  come,  or    at   least    he  would   ]iot-   be   debarred 


HFLIGIOUS  TESTS.  49 

froiii  cuming  by  his  poverty.  There  were  more  pooi*  men 
than  rich  men  in  America  a  century  ago,  as  now;  but  tlie  first 
State  governments  and  their  successors  lor  many  years  were 
not  the  poor  men's  governments. 

The  electors  and  the  elected  were  also  required  to  have 
delined  religious  opinions.  Atheists,  infidels,  agnostics,  and 
non-churclnnen  were  disqualified  fi-om  voting  or  from  hold- 
ing office.  In  New  llampsliire,  in  Vermont,  in  Connecticut, 
in  New  Jersey,  and  in  Soutli  Carolina  electors  and  elected 
were  obliged  to  subscribe  to  the  Protestant  religion.  In 
Massachusetts  and  in  Maryland  they  were  required  to  be- 
lieve in  the  Christian  religion,  which  meant  membership  in 
the  Episcopal  Church  in  Maryland,  and  in  the  Congrega- 
tional Church  in  Massachusetts.  In  Delaware  they  sul)- 
scribed  to  belief  in  the  Trinity  and  the  inspii-ation  of  the 
Scriptures;  in  North  Carolina,  to  the  divine  authority  of  the 
Bible  and  in  the  Protestant  religion,  which  in  that  State  siir- 
nified  membership  in  the  Episcoj)al  Church.  Pennsylvania, 
with  Quaker  simjjlicity,  required  belief  in  one  God,  in  the 
inspiration  of  the  Scriptures,  and  in  the  future  reward  of 
good  and  in  the  punishment  of  evil. 

New  York,  Rhode  Island,  Virginia,  and  Georgia  made  no 
formal  requirements,  but  by  force  of  custom  in  these  States 
the  Protestant  faith  was  predominant,  the  Episcopal  Church 
in  Virginia  and  in  Georgia,  the  Baptist  Church  in  Rhode 
Island,  and  in  New  York  the  Congregational  and  the  Epis- 
copal Churches.  But  in  these  last-named  States  no  man  was 
excluded  from  the  franchise  because  he  belonged  to  any 
other  Christian  denomination. 

Limited  by  the  qualification  of  property,  of  religious  opin- 
4 


50  NUMBER  OF  ELECTORS. 

ion,  of  sex  and  of  age,  the  mimber  of  electors  in  this  country  in 
1776  was  far.  less  in  proportion  to  the  whole  number  of  inhab- 
itants than  is  the  number  at  the  present  time.  Slaves  could  n<jt 
vote.  Perhaps  in  some  States,  as  occasionally  in  Massachu- 
setts or  in  New  York,  a  free  black  might  have  been  seen  at 
the  polls.  Estimating  the  entire  population,  free  and  slave, 
in  177G  at  two  and  one  half  millions,  which  is  a  large  es- 
timate, by  the  ratio  of  the  free  franchise  to  which  we  are 
accustomed,  one  elector  to  five  of  the  population,  there  would 
have  been  above  four  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  voters  in 
the  thirteen  States.  It  is  difficult  to  ascertain  the  exact 
number  at  that  time,  but  careful  computations  indicate  that 
the  number  was  less  than  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thou- 
sand souls.  It  is  perhaps  not  incorrect  to  estimate  the  num- 
ber at  one  hundred  thousand.  In  twenty-six  States  to-day, 
just  twice  the  number  of  the  original  Union,  the  right  of 
suffrage  is  exercised,  at  times  and  for  certain  purposes,  by 
women.  Not  a  woman  voted  a  century  ago.*  It  may  sur- 
prise us  to  discovei'  that  the  franchise  was  so  limited  in  this 
country  at  a  time  when  the  fathers  and  the  sons  were 
struggling  for  liberty.  I>ut  to  this  limitation  no  strong  op- 
position developed  until  after  the  national  Constitution  had 
been  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  supreme  law  of  the  land. 
Ignorance  and  poverty  marked  as  their  own  the  majority  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  States  Avheu  independence  was  de- 
clared. Not  all  States  made  })rovision,  as  did  Massachusetts, 
fur  the   ('(lucalion    of   the  masses  at  public  expense.     There 

*  Women  voted  in  New  Jersey  midor  tlio  constiliitioii  of  17T6  hy  later 
Icf^islution.  Tlio  rif,'lit  to  vole  was  given  to  women  luiviu<j  u  certain  amount 
of  real  estate  in  tlieir  own  rigiit. 


EDUCATION.  51 

were  no  })ublic  schools.  And  wo  slioiild  n<»t  for  a  moment 
f<.>rget  th.'it  tlie  condition  of  tlio  masses  in  England,  in  France, 
in  Germany,  in  Italy,  was  at  that  time  far  less  comfortable 
than  in  the  United  States.  Democracy  has  tnrned  the  world 
npside  down  since  the  American  States  made  their  first  con- 
stitntions  of  government.  Education  is  no  lonofer  a  State 
secret,  a  wonderful  talisman  in  the  Latin  tongue.  When 
Massachusetts  first  framed  a  re}»ublican  form  of  government 
the  ])rofessors  at  Harvard  were  lecturing  on  Aristotle  in 
Latin  to  their  classes.  There  were  perhaps  not  above  five  great 
schools  in  America — Harvard,  Yale,  Pennsylvania,  Princeton, 
and  King's  College,  now  Columbia.  The  course  of  study  in 
any  of  them  was  at  that  time  considered  far  in  advance  of 
the  age,  but  it  would  not  now  satisfy  the  requirement  for  a 
certificate  from  a  res^^ectable  fitting  school.  Few  young 
men  ever  weiH  to  college.  There  was  usually  but  one  use 
for  a  college  man,  to  make  a  clergyman  out  of  him  ;  an  ap- 
jirentice,  a  mechanic,  a  merchant,  a  lawyer,  even  the  town's 
doctor,  ha<l,  as  was  commonly  thought,  little*  use  for  a  col- 
lege. The  mothers  were  the  country's  teachers,  and  their 
busy  and  burdened  lives  could  find  scant  time  for  teaching 
more  than  the  alphabet  and  a  tolerable  pronunciation  of  the 
language  of  Scripture.  Except  along  the  fringe  of  coast- 
line, newspapers  scarcely  were  to  be  seen  in  the  country,  and 
not  a  magazine,  as  we  know  the  magazine,  was  in  existence. 
The  terrible  struggle  for  daily  bread  consumed  the  energies 
of  the  masses,  and  in  their  rude  lives  literary  amusements, 
now  too  common  to  attract  atteation,  were  wholly  unknown. 
In  the  large  towns  were  clubs  composed  of  a  few  enter- 
prising young  men,  at  which  were  discussed,   largely  with- 


52  AN  AGE  OF  IXQUIRY. 

out  the  aid  of  books,  and  wholly  without  the  aid  of  libra- 
ries, the  fundamental  2>roblems  in  government.  But  no 
company  of  young-  men  could  now  he  brought  together  to 
discuss  in  our  day  the  questions  which  interested  them: 
Are  human  rights  natural  or  acquired  ?  Should  government 
be  organized  for  the  good  of  the  people  ?  and  other  ques- 
tions involving  principles  which  Ave  accept  as  forever  settled. 
These  political  clubs  were  unknown  to  the  rural  districts, 
except  here  and  there,  where,  as  in  some  j^arts  of  Massa- 
chusetts and  Virginia,  a  solitary  genius,  like  James  Otis  or 
Patrick  Henry,  helpless  in  the  confusion  of  streaming 
tlioughts,  sought  relief  by  conversations  and  arguments  with 
fai'mers  and  planters  who  had  a  moment's  leisure.  The  ago 
was  an  inquiring,  not  a  critical,  age,  and  it  builded  on  its 
isolated  experience  quite  unconscious  of  the  style  of  its  i)olit- 
ical  architecture.  It  is  a  century  after  that  marks  the  age 
of  criticism,  when  analysis  outruns  principles  and  im})Utes 
to  a  body  of  earnest  yeomen,  as  they  usually  described  them- 
selves in  their  deeds  and  wills,  a  knowledge  of  political  sci- 
ence Avhich  the  world  does  not  yet  fully  possess.  Our  an- 
cestors Avere  active,  honest,  fearless,  ])ersevering,  practical 
men;  nothing  more,  for  there  Avas  nothing  ntore.  But  every 
American  in  177G  Avas  not  a  Franklin  or  a  Jeiferson,  any 
m<jre  than  in  1S60  was  every  i\.meric;an  a  Field  or  a  Lin- 
coln. No  brief  description  of  the  Anierictan  of  1770  excels 
that  given  of  him  by  Emerson:  "tlu;  embattled  farmer." 

The  conslitutions  of  the  States,  Avliile  alike  in  having  a- 
])ill  of  rights,  an  executive  dej)artnu'nt,  a  legislative  de- 
)»ai'l  nieiil,  Mini  a  judi(!iary,  differecl  widely  Minong  themselves 
in    the  piaci  ical   administration  of  altairs.     In   the  Southern 


TTTLES  53 

States  the  offices  were  almost  exclusively  in  the  control  of 
the  oldest  families,  possessing  ancient  nanies  and  plantations 
of  thousands  of  acres.  In  the  central  States  the  offices  were 
held  by  a  similar  class,  constituting  the  aristocracy  of  the 
land.  In  New  England,  more  than  in  any  other  part  of  the 
country,  thei'e  was  a  chance  for  men  like  Roger  Sherman 
who  began  life  a  shoe-maker,  acquired  at  the  bench  a  j)ro- 
found  knowledge  of  jiractical  affiiirs,  studied  law,  and  rose  to 
most  honorable  fame  in  civil  life. 

Among  these  various  constitutions  was  a  number  of  titles 
designating  the  same  office  or  department  of  government. 
In  New  Hampshire,  in  Pennsylvania,  va  Delaware,  and 
in  South  Carolina  the  executive  was  called  President,  in 
the  remaining  States  he  was  styled  (4overnor.  The  leg- 
islature and  its  two  houses  were  known  by  different  names, 
as  they  are  to  this  day  known  by  different  names.  The 
term  legislature  itself  meant  then  what  it  means  now, 
the  law-making  bodj''  in  the  State.  In  New  England,  in 
New  York,  in  Maryland,  in  Virginia,  and  in  the  Carolinas 
the  upper  house  was  called  the  Senate;  in  Vermont,  in  New 
Jersey,  and  in  DelnAvare  it  was  known  by  its  colonial  name, 
the  Council.  The  title  House  of  Representatives  described 
the  more  popular  branch  in  New  England,  but  it  was  known 
as  the  Assembly  in  New  York,  in  New  Jersey,  in  Penn- 
sylvania, in  South  Carolina,  in  Georgia,  and  in  Delaware. 
Virginia  and  Maryland  called  the  lower  house  the  House  of 
Delegates,  and  North  Carolina  used  the  name  the  House  of 
Commons.  The  State  governments  were  uniform  in  pre- 
scribing a  longer  term  to  members  of  the  upj^er  than  to 
members  of  the  lower  house,  and  also  in  making  a  distinc- 


54  THE  COURTS. 

tion  between  their  functions.  In  Virginia  and  in  Massa- 
chusetts the  Senate  represented  large  districts  or  groups  of 
interests  in  the  State,  the  lower  house  being  more  numerous 
in  membership,  which  was  based  upon  population,  each  of 
the  smallest  constituencies  in  the  State  having  its  representa- 
tive. The  upper  house  of  the  State  legislatures  was,  and  in 
general  still  remains,  similar  to  the  national  Senate,  and 
the  lower  house  to  the  national  House  of  Representatives. 
But  it  need  scarcely  be  remarked,  by  way  of  caution,  that 
at  the  time  when  the  first  State  constitutions  were  made  the 
national  Constitution  was  yet  nearly  twenty  years  in  the 
future.  . 

The  lower  house  Iiad  the  exclusive  right  to  levy  taxes  and 
to  appropriate  money,  but  the  upper  house  had  the  longer 
term  of  service  and  it  was  consulted  by  the  governor  in  his 
appointments.  It  would  be  difficult,  perhaps  impossible,  to 
bring  into  one  brief  statement  any  just  comparison  of  the 
various  State  judicial  systems.  No  ])Qxt  of  the  story  of  the 
Constitution  is  more  difficult.  The  intricacies  of  legal  i)rac- 
tice,  the  traditions  from  England,  the  new  customs  which 
sprang  up  in  colonial  courts,  the  isolation  of  the  States  in 
legal  matters  so  that  the  rules  of  court  in  one  part  of  the 
country,  and  often  in  one  part  of  a  State,  were  wholly  differ- 
ent from  the  rules  in  another  part  of  the  country  or  of  the 
same  State  forbade  a  uniform  judicial  system.  In  judicial 
titles,  in  the  jurisdictions  of  coui'ts,  in  the  tenure  of  office,  in 
the  relation  between  courts  of  different  jurisdiction  in  the 
same  State  will  be  found  differences  altogether  too  confus- 
ing to  permit  a  full  examination  here.  A  glance  at  the 
many  judicial  systems  to  be  found  at  the  present  time  in  our 


THE  CIRCUIT.  55 

four  and  forty  States,  after  a  century  of  union  and  a  con- 
stant tendency  to  uniformity  in  State  practice,  suggests  what 
curious  differences  would  be  found  in  the  judicial  systems  of 
a  century  ago  or  more,  when  there  was  no  union  and  no 
tendency  toward  uniformity  in  practice,  but  a  studied  effort 
for  diversity.  Then  judges  above  the  rank  of  magistrates 
were  usually  appointed  by  the  executive  of  the  State  to  con- 
tinue in  office  during  good  behavior.  Now  the  judges  in 
the  higher  courts  are  elected  by  the  people  for  short  terms, 
except  in  Massachusetts  and  in  Rhode  Island,  where  they 
are  appointed  for  life;  and  in  Delaware  and  Louisiana,  in 
Mississippi  and  in  Kew  Jersey,  where  they  are  appointed 
for  a  term  of  years.  Then  the  judicial  acts,  proceedings, 
and  decisions  in  one  State  had  no  force  or  value,  of  them- 
selves, in  any  other  State,  so  that  there  was  no  2:)racticable 
relief  in  interstate  cases.  Lawyers  were  seldom  called  out 
of  their  own  State  to  try  a  case,  and  both  judges  and  law- 
yers went  on  circuit,  from  court  town  to  court  toAvn,  till  the 
cases  were  all  tried  and  the  dockets  cleared.  Curiously 
enough,  the  only  remnant  of  the  old  State  court  system  is 
now  found  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  whose 
members  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year  hold  circuit  court 
in  the  nine  districts  into  Avhich  the  country  is  divided.  A 
century  ago  probably  every  judge  iu  the  land  held  circuit 
court,  and  the  system  in  the  States  was  not  abandoned  unlil 
about  the  time  of  the  civil  war.*  Judicial  matters  were  con- 
fused in  the  early  State  constitutions,  and  the  absence  of  a 
central  overruling  court  of  last  resort  caused  many  dis- 
tressing evils. 

*  New  Jersey  still  has  the  nisi  priim  system  of  circuit  courts. 


56  TEE  A  SSEMBL  Y  RE  MA  TNS. 

In  the  administration  of  government  there  was  a  similarity 
among  States  of  the  same  section  of  country.  New  York 
was  greatly  influenced  by  the  system  of  administration  com- 
mon to  New  England,  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey  had 
little  in  common  with  New  England,  hut  much  in  common 
with  each  other.  Maryland  and  Delaware  formed  a  group. 
Virginia,  the  largest  and  most  populous  of  the  States,  dif- 
fered widely  from  the  northern  type,  and  had  a  marked  in- 
fluence on  the  system  of  administration  found  in  each  of  the 
States  farther  south.  These  similarities  and  differences 
pointed  out  by  writers  now  were  not  so  clearly  seen  by  our 
ancestors  a  century  ago.  It  is  correct  to  describe  the  State 
constitutions  of  the  eighteenth  century  as  alike  in  general 
plan  but  widely''  differing  in  details.  Each  State  claimed 
to  be  sovereign  and  indei3endent.  But  in  the  struggle 
between  king  and  people  for  sovereignty  the  people  had 
won,  not,  as  it  was  at  one  time  thought,  by  the  triumph 
of  State  sovereignty,  but  by  the  triumph  of  national  sov- 
ereignty. 

Governors  appointed  by  the  king  gave  place  to  governors 
elected  by  the  people,  and  because  of  their  old  jealousy  to- 
ward governors  the  first  executives  in  the  States  had  far  less 
power  than  have  the  governors  of  States  in  our  day.  We 
limit  the  powers  of  the  legislature  and  increase  the  powers 
of  the  governor;  they  gave  unlimited  powers  to  the  legisla- 
ture and  limited  the  powers  of  the  executive. 

The  difference  between  the  constitution-makers  of  our  day 
and  the  constitution-makers  of  a  century  ago  marks  one  of 
the  most  significant  changes  in  the  civil  and  political  history 
of  the  United  States.     The  old  governor's  council  gave  place 


THE  rOWER  OF  CUSTOM.  57 

to  the  upper  house  in  the  legislature  chosen  by  the  electors. 
One  part  of  the  colonial  government  most  essential  and 
central  in  authority  was  continued — the  Assembly,  that  still 
possessed  the  right  to  levy  taxes  and  to  appropriate  money. 
This  is  the  only  j)art  of  our  State  governments  that  comes 
down  to  us  unchanged  for  two  centuries.  The  new  State 
judiciary,  like  the  old,  was  appointed  by  the  executive,  with 
the  consent  of  the  legislature,  usually,  of  the  upper  house, 
just  as  now,  when  a  vacancy  occurs  in  the  United  States 
courts,  the  President  appoints  a  man  to  the  office,  with  the 
consent  of  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 

Thus  we  discover  that  when  the  second  Continental  Con- 
gress recommended  to  the  colonies  to  transform  themselves 
into  States  and  "  to  take  up  civil  government,"  the  change 
was  an  easy  one,  because  the  machinery  for  the  change  had 
long  been  in  motion,  and  the  jaeople  merely  put  into  written 
constitutions  the  system  of  government  to  which  they  had  long 
been  accustomed,  or  to  which  events  had  been  for  many  years 
leading  them.  When  the  hour  came  the  new  actors  that  came 
upon  the  stage  were  the  old  familiar  actors  who  spoke  familiar 
lines,  perhaps  here  and  there  with  new  meaning  that  only 
made  their  readings  more  interesting.  The  colonial  Assem- 
bly triumphed  over  the  British  Parliament,  as  the  British 
Parliament,  a  century  earlier,  had  triumphed  over  a  British 
king.  The  firm  insistance  by  the  people  expressed  in  the 
thought  and  action  of  their  leaders  in  successive  declarations 
of  rights,  "  That  it  is  inseparably  essential  to  the  freedom 
of  a  people  .  .  .  that  no  taxes  be  imposed  on  them  but  with 
their  own  consent,  given  personally  or  by  their  representa- 
tives," and  that  no  taxes  could  "  be  constitutionally  imposed 


S8  THE  TAX  STRUGGLE  CONTINUES. 

on  them  but  by  their  respective  legislatures,"  brought  the 
whole  i^eople  at  last,  of  necessity,  into  a  war  with  the  home 
government,  and  eventually  into  national  independence. 
But  the  supreme  test  of  the  triumph  had  not  yet  been  made. 
It  came  after  the  war  had  closed,  after  peace  had  been 
declared,  after  enthusiasm  had  fallen  asleep  and  the  mighty 
responsibilities  of  nationality  and  power  were  before  the 
}jeople  face  to  face.  Then  it  was,  during  the  dreary  and 
anxious  years  that  followed  the  peace,  that  the  peojjle  real- 
ized the  meaning  of  the  sacrifices,  of  the  labors,  of  the 
hitherto  unknown  forces  of  independence.  Then  it  was  that 
the  national  idea  grew  apace  and  the  State  idea  betook  itself 
into  juster  proportions.  Then  it  was  that  grinding  neces- 
sity compelled  the  people  of  the  United  States  to  form  a 
more  perfect  union. 

We  have  now  rapidly  traced  the  growth  of  constitutional 
government  from  the  time  of  the  first  Virginia  charter 
given  by  James  I.  to  the  London  and  Plymouth  Companies 
onward,  ])ast  the  meeting  of  the  first  American  General  As- 
sembly in  1G19,  past  the  time  of  the  declarations  of  rights, 
past  the  time  of  the  Continental  Congress  to  the  period 
when  the  colonics  with  one  accord  and  almost  at  the  same 
iiiuiiM'ut  transformed  themselves  into  States.  Omitting 
many  incidents  of  the  story,  we  have  considered  only  one 
itlea,  very  briefiy — the  idea  of  the  sovereign  taxing  ]>ower. 
^\'('  discov('re(l  lliat  powrr  in  tlie  Assembly  in  Virginia  in 
H'llii.  We  disc(ncre(l  tliat  ])()W('r  in  the  lower  house  of  cacli 
coloiiial  legislature,  and  when  tlie  first  Slate  constitutions 
are  fdiincd  we  detect  no  bicak  oi-  interruption  in  the  main 
enrrent.  of  ei\  il  ail'airs,  for  tlie  lowei'  house  still  ])()ssesses  the 


THE  EVILS  OF  THE  DA  T.  59 

taxing  power.     About  that  power  the  battle  raged  and  about 
that  power  it  will  continue  to  rage. 

In  presenting  so  briefly  tlie  story  of  constitutional  gov- 
ernment in  America  from  1619  to  1776  we  have  imparted 
to  the  theme  an  a})pearance  of  harmony  and  unity  among 
men  and  between  the  States  which  did  not  exist.  Not  that 
we  have  misrepresented  the  recoi'd  so  sternly  made  in  those 
unquiet  times.  Difticulties,  jealousies,  recriminations,  con- 
spiracies, trespassing  legislation,  conflicting  decisions  of 
courts,  commercial  avarice,  and  bitter  rivalries,  dishonorable 
actions,  and  gravely  alarming  conditions  in  all  public  att'airs 
have  scarcely  been  hinted  at.  But  they  all  existed,  and 
many  more.  We  have  told  the  story  of  the  Constitution, 
which  has  its  first  chapter  in  the  story  of  the  individual 
States.  While  these  States  are  framing  plans  of  govein- 
ment  there  are  national  interests  imperiled,  interests  of  far 
greater  magnitude. 


60  THE  UPRISING  OF  THE  PEOPLE. 


CHAPTER     II. 

HOW    THE    STATES    FORMED    A    CONFEDERATION    WHICH    FEI.I, 
TO    PIECES    BECAUSE    IT    HAD    NO   TAXING    POWER. 

ivvG-ivsn. 

The  Revolution  of  177G  was  the  uprising  of  tlie  people  of 
all  the  colonies  against  the  government  of  the  British  Em- 
])ire.  Before  the  war  the  coh^nies  were  on  a  plane  of  civil 
equality,  an  integral  part  of  the  empire.  The  Revolution 
knew  no  precedence  among  the  colonies,  and  the  people  of 
no  colony  can  be  said  to  have  jiriority  of  right  of  leadership 
in  the  war.  The  people  acted  as  a  unit.  Separate  and  in- 
dependent State  revolt  from  British  authority  was  unknown. 
Colonial  representation  in  the  general  assemblies  was  famil- 
iar to  all  the  peo2:)le,  and  when  the  time  for  concerted  action 
came  the  peo})le  followed  the  familiar  course  of  choosing 
representatives  to  a  Continental  Congress  as  they  liad  long 
been  accustomed  to  choose  representatives  to  their  local  assem- 
blies. The  assemblies  had  considered  only  the  wants  of  the 
individual  colonies  which  they  represented;  the  Congress 
took  into  consideration  the  general  welfare  of  America.  To 
the  first  Continental  Congress  which  assembled  in  Philadel- 
phia on  the  5th  of  September,  1774,  delegates  came  from 
the  different  colonies,  chosen  in  some  by  the  members  of 
Asscnnbly,  in  others  by  a  convention  specially  called  by  the 
electors   in  the  colony.     Tlie   delegates  so  chosen  describe 


rilK  DELEGATES  TKLL   THE  NEWS.  Gl 

lliemselves  in  tliclr  acts  as  "  the  Delegates  appointed  by  llio 
Good  People  of  the  Colonies;  "  making  no  reference  to  thu 
several  States  as  independent  or  sovereign.  This  Congress 
Avas  a  convention  of  the  whole  people,  and  therefore  national 
in  character;  bnt  considered  as  a  government  it  was  tempo- 
rary, revolutionary,  experimental,  and  imperfect  in  organi- 
zation. 

The  acts  of  this  Congress  were  of  national  imjiortance. 
It  forbade,  by  its  non-importation  act,  the  importation  of 
merchandise  from  Great  Britain  or  the  exportation  of  mer- 
chandise to  Great  Britain;  it  issued  a  declaration  of  rights  and 
framed  an  address  to  the  king  and  to  the  people  of  England. 
Returning  to  the  body  of  the  people,  its  delegates  con- 
tinued the  national  movement  by  explaining  to  those  who 
had  elected  them  the  situation  of  affairs  and  by  making 
common  information  of  the  opinions  of  the  people  in  all 
parts  of  America.  The  essential  function  of  this  Congress 
Avas  to  disseminate  the  political  opinions  of  the  country. 
Delegates  from  New  England  met  delegates  from  Georgia 
and  the  Carolinas,  and  for  the  first  time  in  American  history 
the  thoughts  of  any  of  the  people  Avere  made  knoAvn  to  all 
the  people  of  America.  Popular  ap})roA  al  of  the  acts  of  this 
Congress  was  shown  by  the  election  of  delegates  to  attend  a 
second  Congress,  Avhich  met  in  Philadelj^hia  on  the  10th  of 
May,  1775.  The  majority  of  the  delegates  to  this  second 
C/ongress  Avere  chosen  in  conventions  called  for  the  purpose; 
the  minority  were  chosen  by  the  members  of  the  assemblies. 
This  manner  of  choosing  delegates  deserves  more  than  pass- 
ing notice.  The  convention  is  peculiar  to  American  political 
history.     Here  it  originated  and  here  it  remains,  an  instiii- 


62  TRAITORS  OR  PATRIOTS. 

merit  in  popular  government  used  to  ascertain  the  last  for- 
mally expressed  Avill  of  the  j^eople.  The  convention  is  repre- 
sentation applied  to  politics,  as  the  legislature  is  representa- 
tion applied  to  civil  affairs.  In  our  day  the  convention  is  the 
recognized  means  for  nominating  party  candidates,  for  ascer- 
l:uning  the  hearing  of  party  ideas,  and  for  uniting  all  the 
foi-ees  of  the  p.irty  in  one  purpose  at  one  time.  And  at 
critical  times  in  State  history  a  convention  is  assembled  to 
frame  a  new  constitution  of  government,  or  to  frame  amend- 
ments to  the  existing  constitution. 

The  acts  of  the  second  Congress  were  of  wider  application, 
being  national  in  character,  than  were  the  acts  of  the  Con- 
gress of  the  previous  year.  The  i:)eople  by  their  conventions 
had  approved  the  course  of  the  first  Congress  and  had  given 
themselves  over  to  the  Revolutionary  cause.  Resting  on  the 
popular  will  the  second  Congress  assumed  control  of  affairs 
by  a  scries  of  acts  Avhich  condemned  their  authors  as  con- 
spirators and  traitors  or  exalted  them  as  patriots.  They 
j)roceeded  to  regulate  commerce;  to  provide  funds  for  a 
national  government;  to  create  executive  departments,  as  of 
war,  of  navy,  and  of  the  post-office;  and,  to  crown  all  their 
acts,  they  issued  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  The 
validity  of  all  tliese  acts  rested  thenceforth  on  the  events 
of  th(!  war.  If  the  people  would  fight  for  the  princi})les 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  if  the  Ameriean 
armies  tiiumplicd,  ihcn  must  (Jreat  IJi-itaiii  and  other  nations 
recognize  the  independence  of  tlic  United  States.  The 
standing  armies  of  the  nations  of  the  world  t<»-day  demon- 
strate av  hat,  contideiice  exists  between  nalittnsin  the  notion 
"  that  the   mission    ol'   man  is  peace."     A  century  has  not 


WAR— PEA  CE—  GOMPR  OMISE.  63 

changed  the  essential  principles  of  nationality  wliicli  were  so 
closely  examined  at  the  time  of  the  American  and  the  French 
Revolutions;  that  the  condition  of  nationality  is  the  condi- 
tion of  armed  protection;  for  no  nation  will  keep  its  treaties 
unless  it  is  compelled  to,  and  no  nation  will  compel  the  keep- 
ing of  a  treaty  which  is  not  to  its  own  interest.  Arbitration 
means  compromise,  and  its  methods  are  as  old  as  disputes 
among  men;  but  arbitration  between  nations  is  improbable, 
and  scarcely  possible,  unless  they  are  of  equal  power.  It 
was  impossible  to  arbitrate  the  difference  between  the  colo- 
nies and  the  home  government  in  1776.  No  government  can 
arbitrate  with  rebels,  and  the  Americans  in  1776  were  rebels. 
If  successful,  they  became  revolutionists  and  founders  of  a 
State,  makers  of  a  nation.  Arbitration  was  possible  after 
the  definitive  treaty  of  peace,  not  before.  The  dispute  about 
the  taxing  power  had  gone  beyond  the  stage  of  declarations 
of  rights,  of  petitions,  of  expostulations;  the  differences  be- 
tween the  Americans  and  the  English- government  touched 
on  the  vital  principles  of  that  government,  the  right  of  that 
government  to  tax  its  citizens.  The  right  was  not  disputed 
as  an  abstract  right  in  government;  the  dispute  suddenly  be- 
came of  uncomj^romising  dithculty — -which  government  shall 
tax  the  Americans,  the  English  government,  or  a  government 
instituted  by  the  Americans  themselves  ?  AVar,  and  war  only, 
could  decide  this  question. 

The  delegates  to  this  second  Congress  were  not  chosen 
directly  by  the  people;  they  were  chosen  as  we  now  choose 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  by  an  indirect  vote  of 
the  electors.  The  electors  chose  the  members  of  the  conven- 
tions or  the  members  of  the  assemblies,  and  the  conventions 


64  MEN  OF  FAME. 

or  the  assemblies  chose  the  delegates  to  Congress.  It  will 
never  again  be  possible  in  America  to  enter  uj)on  the  foun- 
dation of  a  government  in  so  indii'ect  a  manner  as  was  fol- 
lowed in  1776.  It  was  then  thought  that  such  a  system 
resulted  in  the  choice  of  the  best  men,  the  idea  jjrevalent  at 
the  time  being  that  the  masses  of  the  people  were  incapable 
of  deciding  for  themselves  Avhat  was  best  for  their  own  inter- 
ests, and,  therefore,  an  intermediate  body  of  men,  acting  as  a 
discriminating  committee,  would  choose  the  best  men.  There 
seems  to  have  been  no  organized  opposition  to  the  ajjpli- 
cation  of  this  idea  in  American  civil  affairs  until  nearly  forty 
years  after  the  national  Constitution  was  made,  and  nearly 
fifty  years  after  the  Declaration  ot"  Independence  was  issued. 

In  the  application  of  this  indirect  method  of  obtaining 
the  Avill  of  the  jjeople  it  followed  that  the  control  of 
public  affairs  fell  into  the  hands  of  a  few  men  best 
known  to  the  community,  to  the  State,  or  to  the  nation. 
There  were  no  "  dark  horses "  in  American  politics  under 
tlie  administration  oi  this  system.  There  were  few  obscure 
men  in  the  early  Congresses.  Tliere  were  delegates  more 
widely  known  than  others,  as  Franklin  and  Washington  and 
John  Hancock  Avere  more  widely  known  than  Willing  or 
Ihill  or  ]>l;ind;  but  not  one  member  of  the  Congress  Avas 
A\  itliout  reputation  iu  his  own  community,  nor  Avholly  un- 
known throughout  his  own  State. 

The  ])rocess  of  selec;tion  incident  to  tlie  indirect  choice  of 
delegates  douljtless  I'esulted  in  a  more  able  gathering  of 
men  than  could  have  been  made  by  the  nu)di'rn  system  of 
jtarly  oi'ganizaliou  and  party  choice  irres})ective  of  the  man 
wliom    tlu;   niachinciy  ol     parly  jtolilics    may  take   up.      'J'he 


THE  DEMOCRATK'  h'HVorAJTioX.  65 

ess(^iitial  clifFerenco  between  the  polities  of  tliat  day  and  of 
this  is  tlie  difftTeiiee  between  individuals  and  jiarty  organiza- 
tion; then  individuals  got  along  without  parties;  now  par- 
ties get  along  without  individuals;  then  the  man  Avas  chosen 
because  he  was  known  as  pre-eminent  in  civil  affairs,  or  as 
capable  of  pre-eminence;  now  the  man  is  chosen  becausw  he 
stands  for  the  accepted  doctrine  of  an  organized  party,  is 
the  concrete  expression  of  that  party,  and  loses  liis  identity 
in  that  party.  It  was  a  democratic  revolution  in  1825  which 
overtiirew  the  indirect  method  of  electing  public  officers  in 
this  country;  it  was  a  colonial  and  English,  indeed,  a  federal 
notion,  that  the  jjeople  as  a  mass  were  incapable  of  govern- 
ment, and  therefore  the  representatives  of  the  people  should 
be  indirectly  chosen.  But  the  results  of  the  democratic 
revolution  of  1820-30  have  not  been  democratic;  it  has  re- 
sulted in  the  creation  of  a  party  power  which  quite  as  seldom 
represents  the  wishes  of  tlie  individual  electors  as  did  the 
indirect  choice  of  public  officials  a  century  or  less  ago.  The 
convention,  whicli  was  devised  by  Americans  as  a  means  to 
an  end,  lias  become  the  end  itself,  and  scarcely  an  office  of 
importance  in  State  or  nation  can  now  be  obtained  without 
the  previous  winning  of  a  convention.  So  complete  is  the 
change  tliat  no  elector  to-day  thinks  of  voting  against  the 
candidate  for  the  presidency  wdio  has  received  the  nomina- 
tion in  a  convention  of  the  party  to  which  the  elector  be- 
longs, even  if  the  nomination  does  not  fully  |)lease  the  elector. 
A  slight  examination  of  present  politics  will  illustrate  how 
little,  after  all,  is  the  difference  between  the  manner  of 
choosing  delegates  to  Congress  in  1770  and  at  the  present 
time.  The  api)lication  of  the  representative  system  to  poli- 
5 


66  A  FEW  MEN  RULE. 

tics,  as  well  as  to  government,  must  take  from  the  peoi)le 
the  direct  control  of  public  aflfairs,  AVhatever  system  of 
electing  officials  in  a  representative  government  might  be 
followed,  that  system  itself  Avould  ultimately  illustrate'  the 
representative  idea.  The  most  democratic  government  in 
the  world  could  not  exist  Avithout  the  machinery  of  this  i-ep- 
rescntative  system.  The  control  of  government  must  of 
necessity  fall  into  the  hands  of  a  few  men.  Let  no  one  imag- 
ine that  "bossism"  in  politics  is  a  modern  American  disease. 
Bossism  is  the  name  of  a  system  of  representative  gevern- 
ment  abused.  In  a  republic  like  our  own,  in  which  the  peo- 
ple care  more  for  material  welfare  than  for  forms  of  govern- 
ment or  for  politics,  bossism  as  an  evil  is  yet  in  the  infancy 
of  its  history.  The  representative  idea  in  government  is 
good  if  Avell  applied,  but  extremely  dangerous  when  ill-ap- 
jilied.  The  struggle  for  wealth  dulls  the  caution  of  the  citi- 
zen so  that  he  delegates  his  political  power  caielessly,  or 
even  with  a  feeling  of  relief.  Caring  little  for  government  or 
politics  himself,  he  cannot  expect  that  his  deputy  and  rej)ie- 
sentative  will  care  more.  Bossism  becomes  a  fact  when  tlie 
electors  are  indifferent  to  whom  they  delegate  their  2)olitical 
powers.  The  abuse  of  the  rei)resentative  s^'stem  s])rings 
naturally  from  iiidiiVcrence  and  neglect  in  the  electors  of 
their  political  rights  and  duties. 

The  delegates  to  the  first  Congress  probably  represented  the 
people  of  their  day  as  closely  as  do  our  representatives  in  Con- 
gress represent  the  people  at  the  present  time.  If  the  whole 
list  of  delegates  from  1774  to  1V80  be  scanned  there  will  be 
r<iiiiid  oil  tli(!  I'oll  tlie  name  of  almost  every  distinguished  man 
in   .\iiierica  at  that   time.      Not  all  members  of  the  C^ongress 


THE  GIANTS  AND  THE  PYGMIES.  67 

of  the  Confederation  nor  of  the  Congress  before  the  Confed- 
eration were  "  giants  in  those  days."  It  lias  become  com- 
mon to  speak  of  these  early  Congresses  as  wholly  composed 
of  such  men  as  Jefferson  or  John  Adams  or  John  Jay. 
This  is  a  mistake.  There  were  also  pygmies  among  the 
famous  body  of  giants  ;  and,  as  at  other  times  in  our  national 
history,  in  the  history  of  these  early  Congresses  there  has 
been  an  exaltation  of  the  giants  and  an  utter  oblivion  of  the 
pygmies.  Of  the  public  men  of  the  Revolutionary  period 
from  1765  to  1780,  a  period  of  a  cpiarter  of  a  century,  the 
number  perhaps  reaches  three  hundred,  if  men  eminent  both 
in  State  and  in  national  politics  l)e  included;  but  of  that  three 
hundred  or  less  not  above  fifty  can  be  named  as  men  who 
may  be  classed  with  the  leaders  of  the  time  in  Euro2)e  or 
with  the  leaders  of  subsequent  critical  periods,  in  our  own 
history;  and  of  these  fifty  men  we  have  named  the  greate^-t 
when  we  name  Franklin  and  Washington,  Jefferson  and 
Hamilton,  Madison  and  Marshall,  Morris  and  Adams,  Rut- 
ledge  and  Jay.  In  the  thirteen  State  legislatures  was  a 
body  of  men  in  training;  in  Congress  the  majority  of  delegates 
were  men  who  may  be  described  in  the  language  of  poli- 
tics as  safe  men.  But  the  great  leaders  soon  left  both  State 
legislature  and  Congress  and  became  actively  engaged  with 
Washington  in  military  affairs  or  with  Franklin  in  the  dip- 
lomatic service.  The  daily  civil  tasks  of  the  Revolution  AVere 
performed,  as  they  are  always  performed  in  government,  by 
industrious  men  quite  unknown  to  fame.  As  the  character 
of  the  American  Revolution,  by  com])arison  with  the  Aarious 
jiolitical  history  of  the  country  since  that  time,  is  more  ])er- 
fectly  understood,  the  Avork  of  the  American  patriots  is  seen 


68  THEORY  VERSUS  PRACTICE. 

in  no  diminution  of  luster.  They  did  Avliat  they  did  in  con- 
formity with  the  course  of  their  own  experience  as  colonists, 
and  perhaps  with  some  illumination  from  such  political  writers 
as  Montesquieu  and  Rousseau,  as  John  Locke  and  John  Mil- 
ton. They  laid  down  the  principles  of  government  with  a 
precision  almost  axiomatic;  this  was  their  work  in  the  M'orld. 
But  they  failed  in  the  administration  of  government  as 
remarkably  as  they  succeeded  in  fixing  its  political  "prin- 
ciples. Our  age  is  the  age  of  administration,  not  of  the 
foundation  of  governments.  Nor  have  our  legislators  yet 
succeeded  in  determining  the  axioms  of  governmental  admin- 
istration. The  American  Revolution  probably  settled  for- 
ever in  this  country  the  principles  on  which  government  is 
founded,  but  it  settled  nothing  in  the  administration  of  gov- 
ernment. We  shall  soon  discover,  in  our  brief  examination 
of  the  conduct  of  pul)lic  affairs  by  the  Continental  Congress 
and  by  the  Congress  of  the  Confederation,  that  never  in  the 
world's  history,  in  a  government  of  intelligent  men,  was 
there  a  worse  administration  of  public  affairs  than  in  America 
fi'om  1770  to  1789.  Administration,  as  Ave  now  understand 
that  term  in  government,  was  to  the  American  legislators  and 
their  colleagues  in  office  a  word  of  unknown  meaning.  There 
were  men,  few  indeed  in  number,  who  understood  the  mean- 
ing of  the  term,  but  they  were  men  who,  like  Hamilton, 
were  a<lmired  lather  than  followecl.  The  whole  eft'ort  of 
administration  in  the  Confederation  brok(Hh>wn  at  last  ;  nor 
was  it  till  Hamilton,  a  master  of  adminisl ration,  had  become 
secretary  of  IIk;  li-casurv  under  ihc  Jialional  Constitution 
that  the  transition  was  madi;  from  the  Revolutionary  period 
of  the  formation  and  fiaming  of  governmental  principles  to 


FRANCE,  ENGLAND,  AND  AMERICA.  6y 

the  national  period  of  application  of  those  princi])les  to  the 
welfare  of  the  nation. 

I  have  digressed  from  the  broad  highway  of  the  story  of 
the  Constitution  in  order  to  jjresent  some  characteristics  of 
tlie  Revolutionary  period  not  frequently  discussed.  It  is  no 
wrong  to  the  memory  of  our  fathers  that  we  discover  in  their 
work  an  incompleteness  that  must  be  necessary  to  it  from  its 
nature.  They  could,  and  they  did,  found  a  government,  but 
they  could  not,  as  they  did  not,  succeed  in  administering  it. 
Nor  was  their  failure  conspicuous  or  solitary  in  that  age  of  the 
world.  Neither  England  nor  France  succeeded  so  well  either 
in  the  founding  of  governments  or  in  the  applications  of  jjolit- 
ical  principles  as  did  the  members  of  the  American  Congresses 
from  1V74  to  1789.  The  efforts  of  England  in  administration 
is  told  by  one  of  her  most  eminent  public  servants  and  his- 
torians. Sir  Thomas  Erskine  May,  and  the  struggles  of  France, 
both  in  founding  governments  and  in  attempting  to  admin- 
ister them,  may  be  traced  in  the  confessional  memoirs  of 
Talleyrand,  who  participated,  as  did  no  other  Frenchman,  in 
the  governments  so  founded  and  so  administered.  The 
period  of  the  American  Revolution  was  the  age  of  constitu- 
tion-making, of  the  founding  of  States,  of  the  determination 
in  practice  of  the  principles  of  government.  The  course  of 
events  on  this  continent  was  only  one  part  of  that  lai-ge 
event  going  on  throughout  the  western  world,  the  establish- 
ment of  representative  government.  But  the  chief  charac- 
teristic of  the  whole  age  is  the  determination  of  the  ])rinciples 
of  government  and  not  the  determination  of  the  best  admin- 
istration of  government.  The  administration  of  government 
is  the  chief  problem  of  the  age  in  which  we  live. 


70  THE  NATIONAL  IDEA. 

The  second  Congress,  like  its  successors  to  this  clay,  was  a 
national  body  of  delegates  from  the  people.  The  Declaration 
of  Independence  was  "of  these  united  colonies."  The  States 
were  free  and  independent  in  tlieir  unity.  No  individual 
colony  claimed  a  separate  act  of  independence  from  Great 
Britain.  The  instrument  of  formal  separation  uses  the 
expression,  "  the  good  people  of  these  colonies,"  as  descrip- 
tive of  one  sovereign,  political  body  or  society — the  people 
of  the  United  States.  We  have  seen  in  the  story  of  the 
State  constitutions  that  three  States,  South  Carolina,  New 
Jersey,  and  New  Hampshire,  adopted  their  first  constitutions 
before  the  Declaration  of  Independence  was  issued.  The 
first  Congress,  on  the  3d  of  November,  17V5,  had  recom- 
mended that  the  colonies,  pending  the  dispute  with  Parlia- 
ment, "should  organize  such  governments"  as  would  "best 
promote  the  happiness  of  the  people  ; "  but  the  govermnents 
so  formed  were,  as  in  the  case  of  New  Jersey,  provisional  in 
their  character.  New  Jersey,  in  convention,  or  congress,  as 
the  Assembly  was  c;illed,  on  the  3d  of  July,  1770,  issued  a 
constitution  of  government  with  this  clause:  "Provided 
always  and  it  is  the  true  intent  of  this  C\:)ngress,  that  if  a 
reconciliation  between  Great  Britain  and  these  colonies  shoulil 
take  place,  aTid  the  latter  be  taken  again  under  the  protection 
aiul  government  of  the  crown  of  Great  Britain,  this  charter" 
(that  is,  the  New  Jersey  constitution  of  1770-1844)  "shall 
b(!  null  luiil  void,  otliei'wise  to  I'emain  firm  an<l  inviolable." 
From  the  language  of  this  clause  it  is  pliiin  that  New  Jersey 
did  not  claim  separate  independence,  but  that  the  action  of 
the  Stale  depended  finally  upon  the  "reconciliation  between 
Great  Britain  ;ind  these  ('(clonics."    'i'he  Declaration  of  Inde- 


THE  NATIOXAL  IDEA.  71 

pendence  itself  is  a  compend  and  resume  of  various  earlier 
declarations  and  resolutions  niiide  either  by  the  first  Congress 
or  by  conventions  and  assemblies  in  various  colonies.  It 
presents  in  a  simple,  brief,  and  orderly  manner  the  common 
opinion  of  the  })eople,  and  its  provisions,  now  somewhat 
obscure,  were  evidently  illustrated  and  explained  by  inci- 
dents familiar  to  the  public  mind.  Perhaps  no  state  paper 
in  American  history  is  more  famous,  and  no  state  paper  of 
the  Revolutionary  period  is  more  obscure. 

Virginia,  on  the  29th  of  June,  of  the  year  of  the  Declara- 
tion, had  issued  a  declaration  affirming  that  "the  government 
of  this  country,  as  formerly  exercised  by  the  crown  of  Great 
Britain,  is  totally  dissolved."  The  phrase  "government  of 
this  country  "  referred  to  the  colonies  as  a  unit,  and  not  to  the 
State  of  Virginia  alone.  It  is  just  to  conclude,  tlierefore, 
that  the  separation  from  Great  Britain  was  not  a  separation 
by  individual  States,  but  the  separation  of  the  united  colonies. 
The  people  as  a  political  unit,  as  a  nation,  formed  the  sepa- 
rating mass,  elected  delegates  to  a  national  Congress,  and  in- 
augurated a  national  government.  'J'he  struggle  between  \iqo- 
ple  and  king  and  people  and  Parliament,  which  we  have  told 
in  the  story  of  the  States,  won  a  vaster  triumph  than  that  of 
mere  popular  representation  in  a  colonial  assembly.  The  vic- 
tory Avas  nearly  won  in  the  several  colonial  legislatures,  but 
the  victory  was  incomplele  until  the  national  government  was 
established.  At  the  time  when  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence was  issued  neither  the  people  nor  the  leaders  saw 
clearly  the  ultimate  consequences  of  their  act,  and  but  few  of 
the  greatest  minds  saw  the  consequences  near  at  hand.  Tliere 
existed  a  strong  anti-revolutionary  feeling  in  the  colonies,  a 


72  FRANKLIX. 

feeling  which  the  British  government  failed  to  nourish  into 
a  political  party,  but  which,  unorganized,  was  still  strong 
enough,  had  a  full  vote  been  polled  on  the  question  of  separa- 
tion from  Great  Britain,  to  have  held  the  balance  of  power. 
But  the  friends  of  king  and  Parliament  were  at  the  negative 
pole  of  events;  the  friends  of  independence  were  radical  in 
their  ideas  and  aggressive  in  their  acts. 

An  examination  of  the  ages  of  the  men  of  the  Revolution 
discloses,  what  all  revolutions  disclose,  that  few  old  men 
took  an  initiative  and  active  part  in  the  movement.  Franklin 
Avill  at  once  come  to  mind  as  an  exception,  but  Franklin 
Avas  a  peculiar  man,  and  not  a  type  of  the  men  of  his  gen- 
eration. At  the  time  when  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence was  issued  Franklin  was  a  little  past  seventy  years 
of  age,  at  a  time  of  life  when  the  few  Avho  reach  it  are 
oidy  too  willing  to  retire  I'rom  active  pursuits,  when  the 
body  is  feeble  and  the  mind  is  in  sympathy  with  the 
body.  But  Franklin  at  seventy  was  still  a  young  man.  lie 
had  never  been  an  old  man,  for  throughout  his  life  he  had 
assiduously  cultivated  the  society  of  the  choicest  youth  whom 
he  could  gather  about  him  by  the  pleasing  attractions  of  a 
winning  manner,  an  inexhaustible  information,  and  an  incom- 
parable wit.  lie  represented  every  generation  that  had  come 
upon  the  stage  during  his  time.  He  lived  in  the  present, 
ami,  unlike  other  men  of  his  years,  he  looked  into  the  future. 
He  was  fond  of  lu'w  things,  yet  never  a  radical;  he  was  So- 
ciMtic  ill  his  wisdom,  yet  never  a  ])edant.  lie  had  differed 
I'lMiii  the  .S(K'iety  of  Friends  in  opinion,  he  had  opposed  them 
ill  ilic  management  of  affairs  in  Pennsylvania;  he  had  argued 
against  the  treatment  of  the  eolonies  by  Parliament  at  the  bar 


FRANKLiy  73 

of  tlie  House  of  Commons,  and  witli  membLTS  of  Parlianiciit 
;it  their  liomes;  yet  he  liad  intimate  and  devoted  friends  ainoiiu^ 
(lie  Quakers  and  anionj^  the  leaders  of  both  liouses  ot  Parlia- 
riu'iit.  He  liad  long  l)een  known  to  tlie  world  as  a  pliiloso- 
|)liei',  yet  liis  wliole  philosophy  is  tlie  ])resent-day  wisdom  of 
common  sense  whi(-h  every  body  delights  in  and  few  i)Ossess. 
lie  assiduously  applied  himself  to  the  solution  of  the  imme- 
diate (piestions  of  the  day  and  to  the  exposition  and  satisfae- 
tion  of  the  immediate  wants  of  man.  His  keen,  ])ractical 
mind  detected  the  signs  of  the  times,  and,  identifying  liim- 
self  with  younger  men,  lie  easily  directed  them  by  his  counsel, 
while  they  imagined  that  they  were  using  his  name  in  fur- 
thering their  political  schemes  or  their  individual  ambition. 
When  the  hour  of  the  Revolution  struck,  Franklin  was  alert, 
calm,  confident,  discerning,  counseling,  surrounded  by  the 
choicest  youth  of  the  city  of  his  adoption,  and  by  the  ardent 
spirits  of  all  the  colonies,  who  doubtless  would  have  acted 
without  liim,  but  who  harmoniously  acted  with  him.  His 
whole  career  as  a  leader  in  the  Revolution  was  in  perfect 
keeping  Avith  his  course  of  life  as  a  citizen  of  Philadelphia 
for  three  and  fifty  years  before  the  Revolution  came.  Of  all 
the  men  who  bore  a  part  in  the  great  events  of  that  age  in 
America,  Franklin,  more  than  any  other  man,  was  the  em- 
bodiment of  the  highest  type  of  colonial  America.  He  stood 
for  colonial  experience,  and  colonial  experience  was  the  find- 
ing of  the  principles  of  representative  government.  A  cent- 
ury of  struggle  for  popular  rights  had  preceded  the  calling  of 
the  second  Congress.  As  the  struggle  passed  from  a  colonial 
into  a  national  arena  one  by  one  those  who  had  enlisted  in  the 
popular  cause  fell  away.     It  was  reserved  for  Franklin,  the 


74  THE  LEADERS  YOUNG  MEN. 

soil  of  an  oljseui'c  caiullc-makcr  of  JJoslon,  to  come  at  the  last, 
Avheii  tlie  forensic  battle  liail  become  a  battle  at  arms,  to  aid 
the  youth  and  the  middle-aged  patriots  of  177G  in  the  organ- 
ization of  a  goveriinient  on  the  liberal  principles  for  which 
the  colonists  liad  so  long  contended.  And  when  peace  came 
Franklin,  still  spared  for  greater  service  to  his  country, 
gave  the  full  strength  of  a  life  culminating  in  benefits  to  his 
countrymen  to  the  establishment  of  the  more  perfect  Union 
and  the  making  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  In 
Franklin  met  the  old  and  the  new:  the  experience  and  the  as- 
pirations of  colonial  days  and  the  possibilities  of  the  new 
nation,  founded  on  the  firm  basis  of  representative  govern- 
ment. 

Of  Franklin's  colleagues  in  the  second  Congress  Wash- 
ington was  at  the  age  of  forty-four,  Jefferson  ten  years 
younger;  John  Adams  was  forty-one,  Robert  Morris  a  year 
his  senior;  Roger  Sherman  fifty-five.  But  among  his  con- 
temporaries were  men  and  youths  who  were  destined  to  lofty 
services  to  their  country  both  in  military  and  in  civil  life. 
When  Franklin  and  Sherman  and  Adams  and  Jefi^erson  af- 
fixed their  names  to  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  Madi- 
son was  but  twenty-six,  Rufus  King  twenty-one,  James 
AN'ilsDii  thirty-four,  and  Alexander  Hamilton  scarcely  nine- 
teen. These  younger  men,  and  others  jx'rhaps  less  famed, 
were  soon  to  be  associated  with  Franklin  and  AV^ashington 
and  Sherman  in  Congress,  and,  later,  in  that  unrivaled  gather- 
ing of  statesmen  who  gave  lo  the  world  the  (Constitution  of 
the  Unitecl  Slates.  Much  of  tlu^  vigor  of  thought  and  of 
language  in  the  political  literature  of  the  Revolutionary  jieriod 
is  explicable   when   are   considered   the   significance  of  the 


THE  PEOPLE  NOT  ENTHUSTASTIC.  75 

principles  involved  and  the  age  and  temperament,  the  ed- 
ucation and  surroundings  of  the  orators,  the  writers,  the 
pamphleteers,  and  the  chroniclers  of  that  day.  The  glory  of 
nationality  appealed  to  such  different  minds  as  that  of  Adams, 
of  Sherman,  and  of  Jefferson.  To  Franklin  independence 
and  nationality  came  as  the  fruit  of  a  tree  long  since  planted 
in  America,  the  ripening  of  events  steadily  moving  forward 
to  this  consummation.  To  the  ardent  mind  of  Hamilton 
nationality  was  the  new-found  opportunity  of  civilization  and 
the  fair  blossoming  of  ideals  more  pleasing  than  even  philoso- 
phers had  dimly  seen  in  their  visions  of  a  perfect  government. 
To  the  people  at  large  nationality  was  only  a  name  for  a  de- 
flection of  the  taxes  for  local  purposes  as  their  chosen  repre- 
sentatives might  choose.  Less  wrought  up  than  their  leaders, 
the  peojjle  followed  (Jongress,  but  as  times  darkened  into  days 
of  defeat,  of  annihilation  of  credit,  and  into  days  of  civil  confu- 
sion, the  peojtle  followed  Congress  at  an  ever-increasing 
distance.  If  the  people  suifered,  they  blamed  CV)ngress.  If 
victory  was  won,  they  forgot  Congress  and  remembered  only 
the  soldiery. 

The  States,  having  quickly  reorganized  their  civil  af- 
fairs on  the  colonial  model,  made  clearer  distinctions  be- 
tween the  divisions  of  government  than  had  before  pre- 
vailed. Each  State  had  its  own  precedent,  but  the  threefold 
division  of  the  powers  of  government  was  followed  in  them 
all.  With  this  precedent  before  them  it  is,  at  first  thought, 
strange  that  Congress  erred  so  seriously  when  it  organized 
the  basis  of  the  Confederation.  But  the  Confederation  was 
an  experiment.  On  the  11th  of  June,  1776,  Congress  ap- 
pointed two  committees,  one  to  frame  a  Declaration  of  Inde- 


'J  6  THE  DEC  LA  liA  TION  AKD  SLA  VER  Y. 

pondence,  the  other  to  draw  up  a  plan  for  a  general  govern- 
ment. The  report  of  the  first  committee  was  favorably,  al- 
most unanimously,  received,  and  after  slight  modifications  of 
Jefferson's  draft,  which  was  the  report  of  the  committee,  it 
was  adopted  and  published  on  the  4th  of  July  following  as 
the  unanimous  declaration  of  the  delegates.  On  the  8th  of 
the  month  the  committee  on  the  Articles  of  Confederation 
brought  in  its  report,  but  nearly  five  years  passed  before  the 
articles  proposed  were  adopted.  As  the  States,  when  they 
took  up  civil  government,  had  organized  under  State  consti- 
tutions closely  following  colonial  j^recedents  long  familiar,  so 
the  committee  on  the  Declaration  found  a  common  stock  of 
grievances  and  expostulatory  resolutions  from  town  political 
clubs,  from  conventions  in  remote  corners  of  the  States,  from 
legislatures  and  assemblies,  from  congresses  of  States,  and 
from  the  first  Congress  of  the  United  States.  These  com- 
plaints were  so  well  known  to  the  committee  that  it  seems  to 
have  turned  over  to  Jefferson  the  consideration  and  expression 
of  a  matter  of  such  common  report,  the  other  members  of  the 
committee  practically  withdrawing  their  several  sketches  of  a 
Declaration.  When  the  committee  bi'ought  in  its  report  all 
the  delegates  knew  what  to  expect,  were  familiar  with  the 
grievances  from  their  own  several  States,  and  were  satisfied  to 
find  those  grievances  mentioned  in  the  report,  IJut  on  one 
subject  the  delegates  from  Georgia  went  into  opposition:  slav- 
ery and  the  reference  to  its  abolition  must  be  left  out,  and  it 
was  left  out.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  the  Declaration  is  a  gcncial 
statement  of  principles  of  representative  governmenl  on  which 
the  membi'rs  had  a  vague  unity  of  sentiment,  'i'liis  formula- 
tion of  tlje  abstract  principles  of  government  provoked  little 


THE  DECF.AKATION  AND  THE  ARTICLES.  77 

debate  in  the  Congress.  Tliere  was  a  debate,  not  concerning 
the  principles  of  the  Declaration,  but  concerning  the  expedi- 
ency of  issuing  the  Declaration  at  that  time.  That  the  united 
colonies  should  be  free  and  independent  every  man  in  the  Con- 
gress believed;  and  in  the  prevailing  atmosphere  of  libea-al 
principles  no  delegate  seriously  disputed  that  all  men  are  born 
free  and  equal,  however  diverse  might  be  the  latent  sentiments 
in  the  Congress  on  the  meanincj  of  thcAVords.  The  Declara- 
tion  created  no  offices,  laid  no  taxes,  appropriated  no  moneys, 
and  advocated  no  party's  political  ideas.  It  was  a  grand, 
perha[)s  a  philosophical,  statement  of  fundamental  principles 
assumed  to  be  self-evident  and  axiomatic;  and  there  was  little 
more  of  opposition  to  it  than  would  arise  at  present  were  the 
delegates  to  a  convention  of  men  interested  in  the  advance- 
ment of  science  to  draw  up  in  committee  a  statement  affirm- 
ing the  doctrine  of  universal  gravitation.  To  reject  the 
Declaration  would  have  been  to  deny  the  common  oi)iniuns, 
not  alone  of  the  people  of  the  United  States,  but  the  opinions 
of  the  foremost  thinkers  of  the  eighteenth  century,  who  were 
I'apidly  concluding  that  the  principles  advocated  by  the  Dec- 
laration must  be  considered  at  last  as  settled.  The  report  of 
Jefferson  and  his  committee  passed  Congress,  was  issued  to 
the  Avorld  as  the  fundamental  notions  of  representative  gov- 
ernment, was  received  by  the  people  with  approval,  and  by 
the  world  at  large  as  an  intelligible  summary  of  fundamental 
principles  for  a  free  government. 

But  no  such  harmony  prevailed  when  the  Articles  of  Con- 
federation were  brought  in.  These  Articles  touched  on  the 
administration  of  government,  and  on  the  administration  of 
government  no  two  delegates  agreed.     The  committee  had 


78  HISTORY  AND  PRECEDENT  ARE  IGNORED. 

found  no  precedent  or  model  in  any  of  tlie  colonial  or  State 
governments.  It  was  perhaps  thought  that  to  confederate 
on  the  basis  of  any  particular  State  would  be  practically  to 
antagonize  the  remaining  twelve  States.  The  articles,  there- 
fore, exhibit  the  original  powers  of  the  delegates  in  con- 
structing a  government  without  a  precedent.  Even  the 
most  fundamental  notion  of  English  experience  for  a  thou- 
s.in;l  years  and  of  American  experience  for  a  century  and  a 
lialf — the  division  of  government  into  three  departments 
— -was  ignored.  A  form  of  government  was  devised  which 
found  none  to  admire  it  when  first  proposed,  which  won  no 
friends  during  its  troubled  existence,  Avhich  was  accepted 
by  the  States  without  enthusiasm  and  ignored  by  them 
with  impunity,  which  passed  through  every  phase  of  neglect 
and  contempt,  and  Avliich  at  last  expired  without  a  sufficient 
rej)resentation  of  its  adherents  to  send  forth  to  the  world  a 
jiKtrtuaiy  notice.  On  loth  of  November,  1777,  the  Articles 
of  Confederation,  which  for  more  than  a  year  had  at  irregu- 
lar intervals  been  deljated  by  Congress,  were  j^assed  by  that 
body  and  sent  to  the  State  legislatures  for  ado})tion.  Before 
the  end  of  July,  1778,  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Con- 
necticut, New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Vii'ginia,  North  Carolina, 
South  Carolina,  and  Georgia  adopted  them;  New  Jersey 
ToUowcmI  in  Noveinbei",  Delaware  in  1 770,  and  jAlaryland  in 
ITsi.     New  llanipshire  never  adopted  them. 

The  plan  of  govei-nment  outlinecl  l)y  the  articles  was  \\itli- 
out  precedent,  ;iiid  it,  is  still  without  similitude  in  the  gov- 
ei-iimeiits  of  the  woi'ld;  yet  it  is  necessary  to  understand  this 
selieme  of  ^oscriiment  in  (jr<ler  to  understand  the  causes 
which  K'd  to  tile  formation  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 


F.VIL  CONSEQUENCES.  79 

States.  The  Confederation  Avas  suggested  by  Greek  models 
wliicli  had  existed  for  brief  periods  among  the  Greek  cities; 
but  it  lacked  that  signilicance  which  occasional  Greek  con- 
servatism imparted  to  those  feeble  unions.  No  government 
was  ever  modeled  upon  tbe  Confederation,  the  nearest  ap- 
proach to  similitude  lacing  tlie  Confederation  of  18G1. 

The  Congivss,  having  submitted  the  Articles  of  C.onfed- 
ei'ation  and  perpetual  Union  between  the  States  as  a  basis  for 
a  national  government,  seemed  little  awaie  of  the  feeble  gov- 
ernment which  they  were  attempting  to  set  up.  There  were 
men  in  Congress  who  knew,  as  all  the  Avorld  now  knows, 
that  such  a  government  was  an  anomaly  and  a  bold  fiction, 
and  they  have  left  on  record  their  doubts  of  its  efficiency 
formed  at  the  time  of  its  inception.  During  the  five  years 
of  its  journey  through  State  legislatures  the  plan  was  a  con- 
stant confession  of  impotence  and  inadaptability  to  the  needs 
of  the  country  ;  hut  when  first  pro})o.sed  it  was  (juite  con- 
ii;lently  supj)osed  by  the  majority  of  tlie  delegates  to  Con- 
gress to  be  adapted  to  the  welfare  of  the  States.  It  is  not 
my  purpose  to  make  of  the  Articles  a  man  of  straw;  I  tmly 
wish  to  emphasize  a  princii)le  in  government,  that  it  is  not 
safe,  in  organizing  a  new  frame  of  government,  to  break  with 
the  past  and  to  experiment  with  the  principles  of  govern- 
ment. The  Articles  were  a  compact  between  the  States,  and 
the  Confederation  was  styled  "The  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica." Each  State  retained  its  sovereignty,  freedom,  and  in- 
dependence, and  every  power  not  expressly  delegated  to  the 
United  States  in  Congress  assembled.  The  States  entered 
into  a  firm  league  of  friendship  with  each  other  for  their 
common  defense  and  jreneral  welfare.     The  free  inhabitants 


80  EXAMfXATlON  OF  TIIFJ  ARTICLF^R. 

of  each  State  were  entitled  to  all  the  privileges  and  imtnii- 
nities  of  free  citizens  in  the  different  States.  No  State  was 
to  impose  discriminating  restrictions  on  the  trade  or  com- 
merce of  another  State  which  were  not  imposed  on  its  own 
citizens.  No  State  was  to  tax  the  property  of  the  United 
States.  Fugitives  from  justice,  meaning  by  that  phrase  ciim- 
iuals  and  fugitive  slaves,  Avere  to  be  given  up,  wherever 
found,  by  the  authorities  of  the  State  in  which  they  were 
found,  and  full  faith  was  to  be  given  to  the  records,  acts, 
and  judicial  proceedings  of  any  State  by  every  State.  The 
Congress  of  the  United  States  was  to  be  composed  of  dele- 
gates, at  least  two  and  not  more  than  seven  from  each  State, 
appointed  in  whatever  manner  the  legislature  of  the  State 
might  determine.  The  Congress  was  to  meet  yearly,  and 
each  State  was  to  have  one  vote.  No  person  could  serve  as 
a  delegate  for  more  than  three  years  in  any  term  of  six 
years.  No  State,  without  the  consent  of  the  United  States 
in  Congress  assembled,  could  send  or  receive  any  embassy; 
nor  make  a  treaty  with  any  power;  nor  lay  any  duty  or  im- 
post ^\■hich  would  interfere  with  ;iny  stii>ulations  in  any 
treaty  entered  into  by  the  United  States  ;  nor  could  any 
State  keej)  bodies  of  troops  or  vessels  of  w.ir  in  time  of 
peace,  except  its  own  State  militia;  nor  lit  out  |>ri\ateers,  nor 
engage  in  war,  without  the  consent  of  the  United  States. 
When  land  forces  w  ere  raisecl  by  a  State  for  the  eoninion 
dcfciisc  all  officers  of  or  under  the  rank  of  colonel  wvvc  to 
be  appointed  Itv  the  State  legislature.  All  coniuiou  expenses 
were  to  be  d(fra\cil  out  of  a  conunon  treasury,  wliieh  was  to 
i»e  supplied  Ityihe  legislatures  of  the  States  ii  proportion 
lo  the  \alue   of    luivatc   hnnls    in    each    State;    liut    the   State 


ESA  mXA  TION  OF  THE  .  I R  TfOLES.  S 1 

legislatures  had  the  exclusive  right  of  laying  and  collecting 
the  taxes  and  the  proportional  amounts  to  be  paid  to  tlie 
United  States.  It  should  be  observed  that  the  Confederation 
thus  far  was  chiefly  an  arrangement  between  the  State  legis- 
latures and  the  Congress  composed  of  delegates  elected  by 
these  State  legislatures,  and  that  the  taxing  power  was  care- 
fully kept  in  the  control  of  the  lower  house  of  the  State 
legislatures. 

The  Congress  had  the  sole  and  exclusive  power  to  declare 
war  and  to  make  peace;  to  send  and  to  receive  embassadors; 
to  make  treaties  of  peace;  but  no  treaty  could  destroy  the 
right  of  a  State  to  lay  duties  and  imposts;  to  establish  rules 
for  the  disposition  of  captures  and  prizes  made  in  war ;  to 
a})point  final  courts  of  appeal  in  cases  of  captures;  to  be  the 
last  resort  on  appeal  in  all  disputes  and  differences  between 
two  or  more  States  in  certain  cases;  to  regulate  the  value  of 
all  coin  struck  by  the  United  States  or  by  the  States;  to 
regulate  the  standards  of  weights  and  measures;  to  establish 
and  regulate  post-oflices;  to  appoint  all  officers  in  the  land 
forces  of  the  United  States  excepting  regimental  officers, 
and  all  naval  officers;  to  make  rules  for  the  government  of 
all  these  forces;  to  a])point  a  "committee  of  the  States"  to 
sit  in  the  recess  of  Congress;  to  appoint  a  President  of  Con- 
gress; to  ascertain  the  necessary  sums  of  money  to  be  raised 
for  the  service  of  the  United  States,  and  to  appropriate  and 
to  apj^ly  these  sums  for  defraying  the  public  expenses  ;  to  bor- 
row money;  to  build  and  equip  a  navy  ;  to  agree  upon  the 
number  of  land  forces  required,  and  to  make  requisitions 
from  each  State  for  its  quota,  to  be  binding  upon  the  State. 

The  consent  of  nine  States   in  Congress   assembled  was 


82  THE  CONFEDERATIUN  AXD  THE  STATES. 

necessai'y  to  enable  the  Uniteil  States  to  engage  in  war;  to 
grant  letters  of  mark  or  reprisal;  to  make  treaties;  to  coin 
or  regulate  tlie  value  of  money;  to  ascertain  the  sums  neces- 
sary for  public  expense;  to  einit  bills  of  credit;  to  borrow 
money;  to  appropriate  money;  to  create  or  equip  a  navy;  to 
raise  land  forces,  or  to  appoint  a  commander-in-chief.  On 
all  other  measures,  except  a  question  of  adjournment,  a  ma- 
jority vote  of  the  States  was  required.  Every  State  Avas  to 
abide  by  the  determination  of  the  United  States  on  all  ques- 
tions Avhich  by  the  terms  of  the  Articles  of  Confederation 
M'ere  submitted  to  them;  and  the  Articles  themselves  were  to 
be  inviolably  observed  by  every  State,  and  the  Union  was  to 
be  perpetual.  Nor  could  any  alteration-  at  any  time  be  made 
in  any  of  the  Articles  unless  such  alterations  were  agreed  to 
in  Congress  and  afterward  confirmed  by  the  legislature  of 
every  State.  As  there  were  but  thirteen  votes  in  the  Con- 
gress when  every  State  was  rejiresented,  and  the  vote  of 
nine  States  was  necessary  on  every  essentially  important 
measure  of  government,  it  followed  in  the  administration  of 
atVaii-s  that  the  vote  of  a  few  men,  of  one  delegate  in  each  of 
five  States,  could  determine  the  fate  of  a  jiroposed  bill.  For 
the  number  of  delegates  from  each  State  was  not  large,  on 
account  of  the  expense  to  the  State  of  maintaining  them, 
and  it  often  ha])pened  that  for  months  a  State  would  have 
but  two  delegates  in  Congress.  A  few  nu-n,  either  absenting 
themselves  or  co-operating  as  obstructionists,  could  success- 
fiilh'  olp[)os(^  the  most  important  measures  at  the  most  crit- 
ical  times. 

The  Confederation,  as  an  effort  towai"d  a  national  govern- 
ment, set  all  precedents  at  defiancre.     Executive,  legislative, 


IXUERENT  WEAKNESSES.  83 

ami  judicial  jjowers  were  confused,  or,  more  correctly 
speaking,  were  wanting.  The  power  which  had  given  force 
to  the  general  assemblies  of  the  colonies — the  power  to  lay 
taxes  and  to  appropriate  moneys — did  not  exist  in  the  Con- 
federation. It  could  not  levy  a  tax,  and  the  right  to  levy  a 
tax  and  the  exercise  of  that  right  is  a  distinguishing  mark  of 
sovereign  power:  it  may  be  said  in  political  relations  to  dis- 
tinguish a  irovernment  from  an  individual. 

The  president  of  Congress  was  the  speaker  of  that  body, 
chosen  from  its  own  numl)er,  but  no  executive  authority  was 
put  into  his  hands.  The  feeble  effort  to  provide  a  judicial 
system  was  wholly  ineffective.  Compared  with  any  of  the 
thirteen  governments  which  were  asked  to  adopt  the  Articles, 
the  Confederation  was  only  a  committee  of  the  States  which 
either  of  them  might  ignore  with  safety.  Had  the  Ailicles 
empowered  the  Congress  to  levy  and  to  collect  taxes  and  to 
pass  and  to  execute  all  laws  necessary  and  })roper  for  the  })ub- 
lic  welfare  the  Confederation  would  be  classed  among  the  im- 
perfect governments  of  the  past.  Constituted  as  it  was  it 
cannot  be  called  a  government.  It  lacked  the  essential 
elements  of  government.  No  supreme  jjowcr  had  created  it, 
nor  had  the  supreme  power  of  the  people  put  it  into  opera- 
tion. It  might  request  the  States,  as  it  did  request  them,  to 
furnish  their  quotas  of  men  and  money,  but  it  could  not  com- 
pel the  weakest  of  the  Thirteen  to  furnish  a  penny  or  to  send 
a  man  into  the  field.  It  could  not  compel  obedience,  for  it 
lacked  that  sanction  which  makes  government  a  reality  in  the 
world.  It  may  be  said  that  the  Confederation  was  only  a 
league  or  treaty,  agreed  to  by  the  contracting  parties,  the 
States,  a  compact  or  contract  to  which  they,  or  any  of  them, 


S4  INHERENT  WEAKNESSES. 

Avere  amenable  only  to  that  degree  and  for  that  time  which 
they,  or  any  of  them,  miglit  determine.  There  was  no  refer- 
ence Avhatever  in  the  Articles  to  the  idea  of  nationality ; 
there  was  no  reference  whatever  to  the  i^eople  of  the  United 
States  as  a  national  nnit,  a  political  entity,  as  the  source  of 
authority;  there  was  no  provision  for  national  citizenship. 
Every  American  w  is  first  a  citizen  of  his  own  State.  He  knew 
nothing  of  a  distinct  national  citizenship  ;  it  had  not  yet  been 
created.  Of  the  States  as  parties  the  Articles  spoke  repeat- 
edly; of  the  individuals  who  composed  the  States  the  Arti- 
cles said  nothing.  The  States  alone  were  addressed  in  it ;  to 
them  it  turned  for  all  supplies.  It  had  no  power  to  compel 
individuals  to  minister  to  its  wants.  Nor  had  it  power  to 
punish  offenses  against  its  own  authority  expressed  in  its  re- 
quests. If  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  should  com- 
mit treason  and  should  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  Confedera- 
tion the  Congress  had  no  power  to  try  him,  much  less  to 
l)unish  him.  It  knew  nothing  of  the  people,  and  the  people 
knew  nothinjy  and  cared  nothing  for  the  Confederation.  Its 
delegates  were  not  chosen  by  the  people,  but  were  appointed 
by  the  State  legislatures,  usually  in  joint  ballot  of  both 
Ijouses.  They  were  j»aid  by  the  States,  if  ])aid  at  all.  The 
whole  range  of  the  C(i;ifederation  in  political  or  civil  fields 
was  merely  sjx'culative  and  on  sud'crance  from  the  States. 
The  Con<rress  of  the  Confederation  cainiot,  b(>  called  a  commit- 
tee  of  the  States  withonl.  ([ualirying  the  description.  If  it 
was  ant!ioii/('(l  to  liori'ow  money  it  ha,<l  no  ability  to  ])ay  the 
debt  ;  if  it  eoiiM  emit  l»ills  of  credit  it  could  not  be  compelled, 
nor  couM  il  compel  any  one,  to  I'cdeem  them.  Its  attempts 
to  jierroriM  till'  work  of  a  real  government  were  futile.      If  it 


THE  CONFKDKRA  TIOX  A  BR  OA  D.  85 

sought  to  legislate  it  lia'l  no  authority  to  execute  its  laws  ; 
if  it  sought  to  adjudicate  a  dispute  it  had  no  power  to  en- 
force its  decrees. 

Thus  the  States,  possessing  all  the  powers  of  government, 
wholly  ignored  the  C'onfederation,  their  executives,  their 
legislatures,  their  courts  soon  discovering  its  weaknesses 
and  defects.  It  was  conceived  wholly  in  that  time  of 
the  conduct  of  the  war  when  patriotism  and  popidar  en- 
thusiasm would  support,  as  they  often  have  supported,  a 
voluntary  committee  of  citizens  acting  on  behalf  of  the  peo- 
ple for  the  success  of  fundamental  principles  of  government. 
But  as  enthusiasm  died  away  and  bitter  daily  experiences 
made  patriotism  a  costly  sacrifice,  it  was  found  that  the  ad- 
ministration, rather  than  the  principles,  of  the  government 
woidd  decide  its  fate.  Yet  this  anomalous  body,  "  the  United 
States  in  Congress  assembled,"  was  the  first  effort  toward  an 
administration  of  the  principles  of  the  Declaration  of  1770, 
As  it  discarded  all  history  and  all  precedent  in  its  formation, 
so  it  met  with  the  ill,  but  the  necessary,  consequences  of  so 
serious  a  neglect.  The  feeblest  State  of  the  Thirteen  jjos- 
sessed  civil  authority  ;  ''  the  United  States  in  Congress  as- 
sembled" possessed  none.  Yet  this  shadow  of  a  national 
government  was  not  so  impalpable,  so  visionary,  so  insignifi- 
cant as  a  hasty  analysis  of  it  at  this  distance  of  time  might 
tempt  us  to  believe.  Witii  all  its  functional  contradictions 
it  was  to  foreign  powers  a  re})resentative  of  the  new  nation. 
It  sent  Franklin  and  Adams  and  Jefi:erson  to  foreign  courts, 
and  there  borrowed  large  sums  of  money  for  carrying  on  the 
war.  It  made  alliances,  offensive  and  defensive,  with  the 
proudest  nations  of  Europe,  and  it  persuaded  his  most  Chiis- 


86  JEALOUSY  OF  THE  STATES. 

tian  majesty  to  send  botli  money  and  soldiers  to  aid  tlie 
American  cause.  Nor  was  this  persuasion  made  a\  ithout  tlie 
opposition  of  influential  ministers  wlio  had  the  royal  ear. 
Talleyrand  tells  us  that  he  thought  the  French  alliance  with 
the  United  States  a  mistake.  This  Congress  of  the  Confed- 
eration was  despised  at  home  by  States  that  were  not  known 
diidomatically  abroad.  To  Europe,  and  perhaps  to  Europe 
only,  did  this  feeble  Congress  represent  the  latent  nationality 
of  the  people  of  America. 

The  war  had  continued  five  years  before  the  Articles  were 
adopted  by  the  States,  and  tAvo  years  after  their  adoption 
the  treaty  of  peace  was  made.  In  order  to  umh'rstand  the 
critical  condition  of  affairs  during  this  period  of  seven  years 
it  is  necessary  to  glance  at  the  administration  of  public  af- 
fairs in  America,  both  by  the  Congress  and  by  the  legisla- 
tures of  the  States. 

If  the  theory  of  the  Confederation  seems  tlefective  upon  a 
cursory  examination  of  the  Articles,  that  defect  and  its  con- 
sc'iueiices  become  more  serious  Avhen  the  Articles  are  exam- 
ined by  the  crucial  test  of  j»ractical  administration.  To  the 
several  States,  as  to  the  courts  of  Europe,  the  Confederation 
was  a  foreigji  government.  Members  of  State  legislatures 
rej>eatedly  described  it  as  a  foreign  government,  and  every 
legislature  viewed  with  grave  suspicion  every  act  passed  by 
"  tl»c  United  States  in  Congress  assembled."  No  living  sold 
was  responsible  to  Congress  save  that  small  body  of  men 
wliom  it  liad  sent  to  foreign  courts.  Suspicion  in  State  legis- 
latures soon  changed  to  contempt.  A  system  of  representation 
whifh  igiiorcfl  population  gave  as  muesli  authority  in  the  Con- 
gress to  lihode   Island  as  to  A'^irginia,  and  A'^irginia  at  that 


DOUBLE  TAXATIOy  UNPOPULAR.  87 

time  was  as  large  as  the  New  England  States,  New  York, 
New  Jersey,  and  Delaware.  But  this  inequality  in  represen- 
tation was  not  the  chief  defect  in  the  Articles.  Congress 
could  not  by  its  own  authority  raise  a  revenue.  It  was  less 
powerful  than  the  State  Assembh^,  lor  whose  rights  the  war 
was  raging.  If  the  State  assemblies  chose  not  to  send  a 
quota  to  the  Congress,  the  Congress  must  do  without  money 
or  obtain  it  by  borrowing.  In  1776,  buoyed  up  by  pojiular 
enthusiasm  for  the  Revolutionary  cause,  the  Congress  boldly 
"voted  supplies"  which  the  States  were  to  furnisli.  But  the 
States  did  not  furnish  these  sup})lies  promptly,  and  two  years 
later  Congress  "urged  supplies,"  which  the  State  legislatures 
failed  to  send.  Excuses  were  more  numerous  than  the 
houses  of  assembly  or  the  membership  in  those  houses,  but 
the  chief  excuse  was  the  expense  necessary  to  be  met  by  the 
States  for  their  own  defense.  A  deeper  reason  may  be  found. 
The  peojjle  were  burdened  by  war  taxes,  which  were  far 
higher  than  any  taxes  known  under  the  colonial  r'eghne. 
Business  of  all  kinds  was  interrupted,  and  business  of  many 
kinds  wholly  destroye<l.  To  be  doiibly  taxed,  by  State  and 
by  Congress,  was  an  administration  of  affairs  highly  unpo])u- 
lar.  When  the  year  of  grace  1780  had  come  both  Congress 
and  the  States  had  passed  beyond  any  dependence  on  direct 
taxes  and  had  begun  to  use  their  credit.  No  jiroblem  in 
the  practical  administration  of  public  affairs  is  a  more  deli- 
cate or  a  more  important  problem  than  the  use  of  public 
credit.  Gold  and  silver  had  disappeared  from  general 
circulation,  and  State  legislatures  and  Congress  began  to 
issue  a  paper  currency. 

On  the  11th  of  November  of  this  year  the  four  New  En- 


S8  THE  HARTFORD  CONVENTION. 

gland  States  and  New  York  sent  delegates  to  a  Convention 
at  Hartford.  Financial  and  commercial  dangers  thickening 
on  every  side  were  admonishing  thoughtful  men  that  the 
welfare  of  the  nation  depended  upon  the  laying  of  some 
foundation  for  a  safe  system  of  finance,  by  providing  taxes 
or  duties  which  should  2)?"oduce  a  fixed  and  inalienable  reve- 
nue to  pay  the  interest  on  the  funded  public  debt  and  make 
jiossible  future  loans.  The  attempt  to  determine  the  value 
of  private  lands  had  failed.  It  seemed  therefore  necessary 
that  Congress  should  be  empowered  to  apportion  taxes 
among  the  States  on  the  basis,  not  of  land,  but  according 
to  their  number  of  inhabitants,  both  black  and  white. 
The  Hartford  Convention  made  a  brief  discussion  on  these 
grave  propositions  before  it,  and  issued  a  circular  letter  to 
all  the  States:  "Our  embarrassments  arise  from  a  defect  in 
the  ])resent  government  of  the  United  States.  All  govern- 
nient  supposes  the  power  of  coercion;  this  power,  however, 
never  did  exist  in  the  general  government  of  the  continent, 
or  has  never  been  exercised.  Under  these  circumstances  the 
resources  and  force  of  the  government  can  never  be  properly 
united  and  drawn  forth.  The  States  individually  considered, 
while  they  endeavor  to  retain  too  much  of  their  independ- 
ence, may  finally  lose  the  whole.  By  the  expulsion  of  the 
enemy  we  niay  be  emancipated  from  the  tyranny  of  Great 
IJritain;  we  shall,  however,  be  without  a  solid  hope  of  peace 
and  freedom,  unless  we  are  projierly  cemented  among  our- 
selves." But  the  wise  opinions  of  the  Hartford  (V)nvention, 
MJlliough  sent  to  Congress,  to  Washington,  ami  to  every  State 
legislature,  although  tending  to  aid  the  sentiment  toward  a 
inon-  perfect   union,  scarcely  colored   the  prevailing  opinions 


STATE  OF  THE  FINANCES  IN  1776.  89 

of  the  day.  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  and  New  Jersey  sub- 
stantially approved  the  proceedings  of  the  Convention,  but 
neither  "of  these  States  alone,  nor  all  of  them  together,  at 
this  time,  could  have  so  changed  ])ublic  opinion  throughout 
tlie  country  that  Congress  would  be  clothed  with  adequate 
powers.  Few  people  at  the  time  knew  any  thing  about  the 
Hartford  Convention.  Little  concerning  it  can  be  found  in 
the  newspapers  of  the  time,  nor  in  the  records  of  the  old 
Congress  or  in  those  of  the  State  legislatures.  But  the 
principles  of  government,  administrative  in  their  natures, 
which  the  Hartford  circular  advocated  indicates  conclusively 
that  thoughtful  men  in  America  had  detected  the  essential 
and  fatal  weaknesses  of  the  Confederation  before  it  had  been 
adopted  by  .the  States. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  war  there  were  in  circidation 
eight  million  dollars  in  specie  ami  twenty-two  millions  of 
paper  money.  A  committee  of  Congress  in  1775  estimated 
that  the  expenses  of  the  impending  war  would  be  two  uiillion 
dollars,  and  continental  bills  to  that  amount  were  ordered  to 
be  struck  off  by  Congress.  Later  in  the  same  year  another 
issue  of  three  millions  was  made.  The  bills  issued  by  Con- 
gress Avere  called  continentals,  to  distinguish  them  from  the 
bills  issued  by  the  States.  Li  February,  1776,  five  millions 
more  were  printed,  a  portion  of  which  was  in  fractional  parts 
of  a  dollar.  The  }):i])cr  in  cii'culation  at  the  opening  of  the 
war  was  the  issues  of  the  several  colonies,  and  usually  stood 
at  par.  The  issues  by  Congress  in  1775  and  177G  exhausted 
continental  credit  at  home,  and  the  continental  l)ills  began 
to  depreciate.  Li  July,  1777,  Congress  issued  five  millions 
and  authorized  the  issue  of  fifteen  millions  more.     Meantime 


90  THE  CONGRESSIONAL  LOTTEUY. 

the  States  had  begun  issuing;  colonial  scrip  fell  helow  i)ar, 
and  State  currency  was  the  better  paper  money  in  the  market. 
Continental  and  State  issues  began  to  compete  for  cre'dit,  and 
State  issues  bore  the  better  price,  because  "  the  United  States 
in  Congress  assembled  "  jjossessed  not  one  foot  of  land  in  all 
Aniei'ica,  nor  personal  ])roperty  of  any  kind  which  might  be 
made  security  for  its  continental  issues.  The  States,  on  the 
contrary,  possessed  both  real  and  personal  property;  and  all 
of  them,  except  Rhode  Island,  New  Jersey,  New  Hampshire, 
and  Maryland,  laid  claim  to  vast  areas  toward  the  Mississippi 
River  known  for  many  years  to  come,  as  they  were  then 
known,  as  the  "  western  lands."  When,  therefore,  Congress 
in  1777  ]>ro])Gsed  a  loan  at  four  per  cent.,  "the  faith  of  the 
United  States"  being  pledged  for  five  millions  to  be  bor- 
rowed immediately,  no  capitalists  would  respf)nd;  the  risk 
was  too  uncertain.  Money  was  worth  from  six  to  ten  per 
cent,  in  the  market  on  ample  security,  and  the  United 
States  could  offer  no  security  whatever.  Congress  then  of- 
fered six  per  cent,  and  tried  a  lottery,  that  delusive  scheme 
which  for  moi-e  than  three  (juarters  of  a  century  was  the 
familiar  and  favorite  device  by  which — both  in  Europe  and 
in  America — to  raise  mone}^  at  the  expense  of  the  unlucky 
for  the  support  of  States;  for  the  building  and  mainte- 
nance of  churches;  for  colleges  and  for  bridges;  for  coi-po- 
ration  debts  and  for  ministers''  salaries.  In  our  day,  though 
outlawcfl  by  nc;ii-ly  all  the  States  in  their  constitutional 
jtrovisions  and  ])y  llic  laws  of  (\)ngress,  lotteries  continue 
to  win  the  coiilidcncc  :nid  the  siippoi-t  of  millions  of  credu- 
lous jx'oplc  in  all  parts  of  the  land.  Ibitthe  congressional 
lottery  did   not  j)ii>sper,  and  the  States  were  again  urged  to 


PAPER  MOXEY  AND  PRICES.  91 

remit  their  quotas  of  sujiplies.  The  States,  liovvever,  were 
more  negligent  than  befo  e,  and  Congress  sought  relief  by 
trying  a  financial  scheme  considered  l>y  its  pi-omoters  as 
both  novel  and  sagacious.  It  was  to  raise  the  amounts  due 
from  the  several  States  by  anticipation  and  place  the  amounts 
received  to  the  credit  of  the  States.  This  amounted  practi- 
cally to  a  loan  by  the  States  to  Congress,  and  it  Avas  famil- 
iarly described  as  "the  same  goose  with  a  change  of  sauce." 
In  1777  Congress  made  another  paper  issue  of  thirteen 
millions,  and  the  entire  amount  of  issues  made  at  tlie 
close  of  that  year  since  1775  was  fifty-five  and  a  half  millions. 
In  1778  Congress  made  fourteen  issues  of  jiaper,  amounting 
to  sixty-three  and  a  half  millions,  and  during  the  fii'st  quarter 
of  1779  it  issued  sixty-five  millions  more  and  attempted  to 
negotiate  an  additional  loan  of  twenty  millions.  The  Sta.tes 
meantime  continued  their  issues,  and  paper  money  had 
scarcely  any  value.  Prices  rose  to  a  fabulous  degree.  A 
barrel  of  flour  cost  $1,575;  a  pair  of  boots,  $400;  four  hand- 
kerchiefs are  quoted  at  f  100  apiece,  and  calico,  at  |85  a  yard. 
Complaints  rained  upon  State  legislatures  and  Congress, 
but  legislatures  and  Congress  replied  by  another  issue.  Con- 
gress ordering  forty -five  millions.  By  the  1st  of  December, 
1779,  the  total  emission  of  continental  paper  amounted  to 
two  hundred  millions,  of  which  more  than  one  hundred  and 
forty  millions  had  been  issued  in  that  year  alone.  The 
credit  of  the  Confederation  had  long  since  disappeared,  and 
after  1779  Congress  made  no  more  issues.  For  four  years 
the  Articles  of  Confederation  had  been  before  the  State 
legislatures  seeking  ratification.  The  States  and  the  Con- 
gress had  during  this  time  been  bidding  against  each  other 


92  CONGRESS  MIGRA  TES. 

for  public  credit,  and  both  had  lost.  There  was  no  ])ublic 
credit  when  on  the  1st  of  March,  1781,  tlie  requisite  number 
of  States  were  known  to  have  adopted  the  Articles.  On  the 
following  day  the  first  Congress  under  the  Articles  assem- 
bled, and  it  at  once  pro))osed  that  the  States  surrender  to  it 
the  right  to  issue  bills  of  credit.  This  proposition  signified 
that  Congress  should  thenceforth  legislate  on  the  credit  of 
the  State,  and  the  proposition  was  promptly  rejected  by 
the  State  legislatures.  During  the  two  years  of  Avar  that 
followed  Congress  Avas  almost  forgotten  by  the  people;  it 
was  ignored  by  the  legislatures,  and  it  was  reviled  by  the 
))ress  and  by  the  pamphleteers.  It  was  forced  by  the  acci- 
dents of  war  to  wander  about.  It  was  at  Philadelphia;  a 
mob  of  plowboys  drove  it  from  the  State  House  there  to 
t  ;ke  refuge  in  Princeton.  At  Nassau  Hall  it  resumed  its 
endless  debates  l)y  inconsequential  members  on  ine()nse(|nen- 
tial  subjects,  and  from  Princeton  it  adjourned  to  assemble  at 
Annapolis.  It  was  at  Trenton;  it  was  at  New  York;  it  had 
b(!en  in  Lancaster;  it  might  convene  without  notice,  at  the 
slightest  sign  of  danger  to  its  members,  in  the  most  obscure 
village  in  the  land.  Wits  were  not  slow  to  make  merry  over 
its  misfortunes,  and  public  contem))t  soon  robbed  it  of  every 
suggestion  of  authority.  It  avms  said  that  (Congress  conld  do 
lu<)  things — it  could  give  bad  advice  and  it  could  riui. 

IIaj)pily,  by  the  fictions  of  international  law,  or  by  reason 
of  tlie  selfish  designs  of  some  Euro])ean  nations  now  more 
clearly  understood  lliaii  then,  (\)ngress  stood  in  the  policy  of 
these  nations  for  a  nation  of  free  people  with  whom  treaties 
conld  be  made  and  to  whom  moneys  could  be  loaned.  No 
swift.  steam-shi[t  nor  incredibly  swifter  cablegram  laid  daily 


EUXyiXG  EXPENSES  NuT  MET.  93 

licforr  the  minister  of  foreign  aft'airs  at  Versailles  or  at 
Vienna  the  exaet  eondition  of  American  aflKiirs,  or  the  treaties 
perhaps  wouW  not  have  been  made  or  the  moneys  loaned. 
The  States,  while  profiting  by  these  treaties  and  these  loans, 
continued  deliberately  to  violate  the  articles  in  the  treaties 
and  to  ignore  the  obligations  of  the  loans.  Instead  of  costing 
two  and  a  half  millions  the  war  had  cost  one  hundred  and 
forty  millions— a  sum  of  money  representing  but  little  more 
than  tlie  annual  interest  paid  by  the  United  States  at  the 
present  time  on  its  bonded  debt.  By  an  energy  almost  mi- 
raculous about  one  hundred  millions  of  this  war  expense  had 
been  paid  by  the  Americans,  but  the  amount  still  due  seemed 
of  such  magnitude  that  it  overwhelmed  our  fathers  with 
fear.  Yet  this  debt  is  less  than  one  third  of  the  county  debt 
of  the  United  States,  is  but  one  fifth  of  the  debt  of  tlie  city 
of  New  York,  and  but  a  few  millions  less  than  the  debt  of 
the  city  of  Philadelphia  at  the  2:)resent  time.  The  adminis- 
tration of  public  finance  in  this  country,  whether  that  admin- 
istration be  judged  as  wise  or  foolish,  according  to  the  theory 
which  may  be  adopted  in  basing  a  judgment,  has  made  no 
form  of  public  securities  more  valuable  than  State  bonds, 
county  bonds,  and  city  bonds,  based  on  the  credit  of  our 
counties,  and  on  that  of  such  cities  as  New  York  or  Phila- 
delphia. 

It  was  far  different  in  1784.  To  meet  the  expenses  of  the 
United  States  for  that  year  about  live  and  a  half  millions  of 
dollars  Avere  required  ;  for  running  expenses,  four  hundred 
and  fifty-eight  thousand  dollars;  for  outstanding  deficiencies 
for  the  previous  year,  about  one  million  (h)llars;  and  for 
interest,  already  ovei-due,  on  the  puljlic  debt,  about  three 


94  AN  APPEAL  FOR  LIFE. 

million  dollars.  To  raise  this  revenue  Congress  proposed  to 
the  States  that  they  cede  their  western  lands  and  grant  Con- 
gress the  power  to  pass  a  tariff  ])ill  and  to  collect  customs. 
Ii  was  plainly  stated  hy  Congress  that  the  im[)ost  should  be 
exclusively  applied  to  pay  the  interest  on  the  j^ublic  del)t ; 
that  it  should  continue  no  longer  than  twenty-five  years, 
and  that  each  State  should  appoint  the  revenue  collectors  for 
its  own  ports.  This  request  of  Congress  has  been  concisely 
described  as  "  an  appeal  for  life."  The  consent  of  nine 
States  would  have  made  the  request  a  law.  Only  two 
States,  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  yielded  assent;  and  the 
proposition  was  lost.  Congress  was  helj^less;  ruin  and  na- 
tional degradation  were  impending;  the  proposition  to  cede 
the  western  lands,  proposed  by  Maryland,  Avhich  had  none, 
was  languidly  taken  up  by  the  legislatures  ;  but  their  action 
had  slight  effect  in  impi-oving  public  credit.  And  this  neg- 
lect of  the  States  was  at  a  most  critical  time,  for  American 
credit  abroad  was  overdrawn  and  the  foreign  loan  was  ex- 
hausted. American  securities  were  scarcely  quoted  on  ex- 
change; the  bankers  were  getting  restless.  ]>y  almost  super- 
human efforts  John  Adams  raised  a  small  additional  loan  in 
Ibjlland;  but  no  more  money  could  be  obtained  save  at  such 
ruinous  rates  of  interest  that  even  Congress  dared  not  prom- 
ise to  j)ay  them. 

Tlicn  began  in  our  country  an  agitation  over  the  affairs  of 
the  nation,  the  powers  of  Congress  to  lay  taxes  and  to  regu- 
late commerce,  whicth  continucil  with  increasing  fervor  till 
th<'old  ("((nfcdcrat  ion  was  su|i])lant('d  by  the  mori'  perfect 
Union  under  which  we  live. 

Willi   national   credit  gone;   with  State  credit  vanishing  ; 


FINANCIAL   CONSTITUTIONS.  95 

« 

with  a  craze  for  printing  i)ai)er  issues  to  pass  current  for 
money  on  whose  rudely  printed  face  could  be  read  "to  coun- 
terfeit is  death  ; "  with  cunniugiy  made  counterfeits  almost 
as  abundant  as  original  issues  ;  with  utter  refusal  in  some 
])arts  of  the  country  to  receive  these  issues  in  exchange  for 
the  necessaries  of  life,  and  with  the  prostration  of  all  busi- 
ness incident  to  a  disordered  currency,  the  legislatures 
were  still  debating  whether  it  was  expedient  to  give  to  Con- 
gress, even  for  a  term  of  years,  the  right  to  regulate  com- 
merce for  the  welfare  of  the  nation.  The  question  Avhich 
now  seems  so  easy  of  solution  was  far  more  dirticult  to  the 
legislators  of  that  day  than  it  might  now  seem  to  be.  The 
question  was  a  question  of  financial  administration,  and  no 
legislature  in  the  world  at  that  time  exercised  its  j)owers 
wisely,  if  its  action  be  judged  by  modern  experience,  in  de- 
termining its  course  of  linancial  administration.  The  prob- 
lem of  such  administration  was  a  peculiarly  difficult  one,  and 
was  one  of  the  new,  the  pressing  problems  which  had  arisen 
in  the  conduct  of  goverinnent.  There  was  not  gold  and  sil- 
ver enough  to  do  the  business  of  the  world  at  the  close  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  and  the  safe  use  of  credit  was  not 
yet  practically  worked  out ;  nor  yet,  in  the  nineteenth  cent- 
ury, while  prostrating  panics  still  rage  at  times,  can  it  be 
said  that  financial  princii)les  are  so  clearly  understood  among 
men  as  are  the  principles  of  government  laid  down  by  con- 
ventions in  constitutions  of  government.  The  time  may 
come  when  financial  constitutions  may  be  framed  among 
men  as  political  constitutions  of  government  are  framed. 
But  at  the  time  of  wliich  I  write  credit  Avas  abused  rather 
than  used.     The  people  divided  into  factions  on  the  propo- 


96  THE  BOSTON  MERCHANTS  COMPLALV. 

sition  of  giving  to  Congress  the  power  to  regulate  commerce. 
Thei'e  were  tariff  men  and  non-tariff  men,  pajier-money  men 
and  hard-money  men.  Some  claimed  that  trade  should  be 
left  to  take  care  of  itself  ;  that  if  the  States  should  grant 
such  a  revenue  Congress  would  squander  it  as  it  had 
squandered  millions  before.  The  States  should  control  taxes 
as  they  always  had  controlled  them.  It  was  replied  that  the 
commerce  of  the  country  was  at  the  mercy  of  foreign  powers, 
and,  as  every  body  knew,  thirteen  States  could  never  agree 
on  the  subject  of  regulating  commerce.  Congress  therefore 
should  be  empowered  to  make  uniform  regulations  on  the 
subject. 

The  Boston  merchants  set  forth  the  deplorable  condition 
of  business,  and  formally  petitioned  the  General  Court  of  Mas- 
sachusetts to  instruct  their  delegates  in  Congress  to  bring 
up  the  whole  question  again,  "^i'lie  merchants  found  a  leader 
in  Govei'uor  Bowdoin,  who  told  the  State  legislature  that 
bitter  expei'ience  proved  the  necessity  of  bestowing  upon 
Congress  the  power  to  control  trade  for  a  limited  .time.  He 
suggested  in  1V85  that  each  State  should  ap})oint  delegates 
to  a  Trade  Convention  in  which  might  be  settled  amicably 
what  powers  should  be  given  to  the  general  govei'nment. 
Xew  York  liad  made  a  similar  suggestion  three  years  earlier. 
But  the  Massachusetts  delegates  in  Congress,  led  by  Rufus 
King,  argued  that  any  change  in  the  Confederation  would 
lead  to  the  establishment  of  an  aristocracy  ;  and  the  cause 
of  lli(^  l>osl(»ii  nicrchiuils  was  for  llic  time  (h'Tcalcd. 

The  nation  was  l)ankiii[)t.  The  j)aper  issues  of  fourteen 
jiresses  liad  Cfiii fused  tlie  currency  beyond  control.  No  cen- 
tral authority  existeil.     Legislatures  passed  laws  discriniinat- 


THE  PLANTERS  (W  Mr  LA  IN.  97 

iiig  against  the  people  of  other  States;  treaties  were  ignored, 
and  public  honor  seemed  lost.  Amid  such  prostration  of 
credit  it  might  seem  iiicredihle  that  there  would  continue 
opposition  to  a  remedy  for  public  disorders  ;  but  opposition, 
powerful  and  popular,  existed  in  every  State.  It  was  affirmed 
that  Congress  had  no  right  to  adopt  the  commercial  laws  of 
one  State  rather  than  those  of  another.  Whose  commercial 
laws  would  all  be  willing  to  obey  ?  Nor  will  the  States,  it 
was  said,  ever  allow  Congress  to  prescribe  commercial  laws 
of  its  own,  for  had  not  New  York,  led  by  Governor  Clinton, 
repeatedly  refused  to  give  Congress  any  right  whatever  to 
interfere  in  the  trade  of  that  State  ? 

But  the  planters  in  the  South,  although  by  following  a 
somewhat  different  course  of  reasoning,  at  last  reached  the 
same  conclusion  as  had  been  reached  by  the  merchants  of 
the  North.  "  If  Congress  lays  an  impost,"  said  the  mer- 
chants, "  we  will  gain,  because  the  duty  will  be  paid  by  the 
consumers  and  we  shall  be  troubled  no  longer  by  the  con- 
stant fluctuations  in  prices  caused  by  the  conflicting  laws  of 
so  many  States;  smuggling  will  be  checked  and  prices  will 
be  more  settled  undef  general  regulations."  "  If  Congress 
fixes  an  imjjost,"  said  the  planters,  "we  shall  no  longer  be 
obliged  to  compete  with  raw  products  in  whatever  form 
from  the  West  Indies  or  from  other  foreign  points,  and  the 
protection  in  our  favor  will  raise  the  price  of  our  products 
and  create  a  home  market."  The  planters  and  the  mer- 
chants thus  gradually  came  to  be  common  supporters  of  the 
national  idea  that  the  regulation  of  commerce  should  be 
under  the  control  of  Congress. 

Congress  itself  Avas  quite  given  ujj  to  despair.     On  the  15th 


98  ENGLAND  AND  FRANCE  LEARN  TEE  NEWS. 

of  February,  1786,  the  committee  cLosen  by  Congress  out  of  its 
own  number  to  take  into  consideration  the  state  of  the  Union 
made  its  repoi't.  Perhaps  no  more  melancholy  and  discourag- 
ing report  ever  came  from  a  committee  of  Congress.  The 
States  had  failed  to  come  up  to  their  requisitions.  The  public 
embarrassments  were  daily  increasing.  It  was  the  instant  duty 
of  Congress  to  declare  most  explicitly  that  the  crisis  had  ar- 
rived when  the  people  of  the  United  States,  by  whose  will 
and  for  Avhose  benefit  the  federal  government  had  been  in- 
stituted, should  speedily  decide  whether  or  not  they  would 
sujjport  their  rank  as  a  nation  by  maintaining  the  public 
faith  at  home  and  abroad,  and  l)y  a  timely  exertion  in  estab- 
lishing a  general  revenue  strengthen  the  Confederation  and 
no  longer  hazard  not  only  the  existence  of  the  Union,  but 
also  -the  existence  of  those  great  and  invaluable  rights  for 
Avhich  they  had  so  arduously  and  honorably  contended. 

At  the  time  of  this  humiliating  confession  from  Congress 
itself  information  was  passing  to  foreign  governments  from 
their  agents  in  America  concerning  the  low  state  of  trade 
and  commerce  and  the  impending  dissolution  of  the  Confed- 
eration. To  England,  Temple  wrote:  "The  trade  and  navi- 
gation of  the  States  appear  to  be  now  at  a  stand-still."  To 
France,  Otto  wrote:  "It  is  necessary  either  to  dissolve  the 
Confederation  or  to  give  to  Congress  means  proportional  to 
its  wants.  It  calls  upon  the  States  for  the  last  time  to  act 
as  a  nation  ;  all  its  resources  are  exhausted  ;  the  present 
crisis  concerns  solely  the  existence  of  C^ongress  and  of  the 
( 'on federation." 

On  the  12th  of  No\  rniber  following,  Washington  wrote 
to  Thomas  Johnson,  who  ten  years  before  had  moved  Wash- 


THE  CRAZE  FOR  PAPER  MONEY.  99 

iiigton's  appointment  to  the  command  of  the  army,  that  "  the 
want  of  energy  in  the  federal  government,  the  pulling  of 
one  State  and  parts  of  States  against  another,  and  the  com- 
motions among  the  eastern  people,  have  sunk  our  national 
character  below  par  and  have  brought  our  politics  and 
credit  to  the  brink  of  a  precipice.  A  step  or  two  more  must 
plunge  us  into  inextricable  ruin."  A  week  later  he  wrote  to 
David  Stuart  :  "  However  delicate  the  revision  of  the  fed- 
eral system  may  appear,  it  is  a  work  of  indispensable  neces- 
sity. The  present  Constitution  is  inadequate  ;  the  super- 
structure is  tottering  to  its  foundation,  and  without  helps 
will  bury  us  in  its  ruins."  On  the  same  day  he  wrote  to 
Edmund  Randolph  :  "  Our  affairs  seem  to  be  drawing  to  an 
awful  crisis."  Otto,  in  a  letter  of  the  10th  of  Octobei',  to 
Vergennes,  the  French  minister,  had  summed  the  necessity 
of  the  hour,  "  to  grant  to  Congress  powers  extensive  enough 
to  compel  the  people  to  contribute  for  .  .  .  the  exact  pay^- 
ment  of  debts" — that  is,  that  Congress  should  be  empow- 
ered to  regulate  commerce  and  to  levy  taxes. 

The  people,  meanwhile,  alarmed  by  continuous  industrial 
depression  and  by  bankruptcy,  had  sought  relief  in  the  very 
evils  which  had  caused  the  destruction  of  public  and  private 
credit.  The  rage  for  the  issue  of  paper  money  broke  out 
afresh  and  more  violently  than  ever.  Legislators  responded 
to  public  opinion  that  the  debts  should  be  wiped  out  with 
paper  money.  In  seven  States  the  hard-money  men  Avere 
out-voted;  Avithin  the  ja^ar  Maryland,  North  Carolina,  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  Rhode  Island,  New  Hampshire,  and  Ver- 
mont issued  great  quantities  of  paper  money.  They  also 
attempted  to  enforce  its  circulation  by  law.     The  famous 


100  SHA  Y\S  REBELLION. 

forcing  act  of  Rhode  Island  led  to  the  celebrated  case  of 
Trevett  vs.  Weeden,  in  which  the  odious  paper-money  laws 
were  pronounced  unconstitutional.  But  this  decision  of  a 
court  of  law  is  only  evidence  of  the  lawlessness  which  pre- 
vailed commonly  in  New  England  and  in  some  other  por- 
tions of  the  country,  and  which  demoralized  society.  The 
obligation  of  contracts  ceased  to  be  binding,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  masses;  a  cessation  of  the  ability  to  pay  money  creat- 
ing an  idea  that  the  obligation  to  pay  had  ceased  also.  Af- 
frays became  common.  Armed  mobs  interrupted  or  pre- 
vented the  session  of  courts.  In  Massachusetts  a  reign  of 
riot,  known  as  Shays'  Rebellion,  which  is  referred  to  by 
Washington  in  his  letter  to  Johnson  as  "  the  commotions 
among  the  eastern  people,"  Avas  supported  by  men  maddened 
by  the  agonies  incident  to  a  ruined  credit,  and  who  sought 
to  vent  their  blind  fury  against  the  supposed  authors  of 
their  calamities,  the  merchants,  the  lawyers,  and  the  courts. 
The  insurgents  in  Massachusetts  were  favored  by  the  gov- 
ernors of  Rhode  Island  and  Vermont,  who  secretly  connived 
with  them  and  openly  aided  them  whenever  any  opportunity 
was  presented  to  injure  the  State  of  Massachusetts.  As  if 
to  make  more  miserable  the  desj^erate  people,  winter  sat  in 
earlier  and  fiercer  than  since  the  terrible  winter  at  Valley 
Forge.  Laborers  were  out  of  ein})loyment.  ^Merchants  com- 
]»Iained  of  the  interruption  or  of  tlie  ulter  cessation  of  trade. 
Tax-collectors  returned  men  as  tax  deliiuiuents  who  had  long 
been  reputed  wealthy.  The  (;ounlry,  as  Washington  had 
jtrophesicd  in  his  CaMious  Xcwlxirg  letter,  written  about  three 
years  bef<;re,  "was  left  ahnost  in  a  state  of  lU'ture,"  and  the 
jMiople  were  learning  I))'  their  own  unhappy  experience  "that 


NEW  JERSEY  REFUSES  TO  RAY.  101 

there  is  n  natural  and  necessary  progression  from  tlie  extreme 
of  anarchy  to  the  extreme  of  tyranny,  and  that  arbitrary 
power  is  most  easily  established  on  the  ruins  of  liberty 
abused  by  licentiousness." 

Yet  even  amid  this  general  bankruptcy  several  States 
passed  laws  impairing  the  obligation  of  contracts.  The 
sense  of  justice  seemed  stunned,  or  lost  to  the  republic.  If 
the  inviolability  of  private  rights  could  thus  be  ignored  by 
public  legislation,  then  after  that  "  the  deluge."  "  Interfer- 
ence with  private  rights  and  the  steady  dispensation  with 
justice,"  wrote  Madison  in  after  years,  "  were  the  evils  wdiich 
above  all  others  led  to  the  new  Constitution." 

During  the  winter  of  1 '7  85-86  Congress  rarely  constituted  a 
quorum.  The  Confederation  was  falling  to  pieces.  State  leg- 
islatures either  neglected  to  elect  or  found  it  difficult  to  elect 
delegates  to  Congress.  No  longer  did  the  office  attract  the 
great  leaders ;  it  brought  neither  profit,  fame,  congenial 
duties,  nor  an  opportunity  for  promoting  the  public  welfare. 
The  giants  had  disappeared  and  the  pygmies  had  taken  pos- 
session of  the  land.  To  New  Jersey  it  w^as  reserved  to 
break  the  last  strand  which  bound  the  Confederation  to  life. 
In  1786  that  State  refused  to  pay  its  quota  of  one  hundred 
and  sixty-six  thousand  dollars.  Congress  sent  its  committee 
to  reason  with  the  New  Jersey  legislature.  The  legislature 
gave  the  committee  a  hearing,  but  no  money.  Then  it  was 
that  Congress  confessed  its  helplessness.  The  United  States 
in  Congress  assembled,  the  perpetual  Union  under  the  Arti- 
cles of  Confederation,  having  received  in  five  months  only 
one  fourth  of  the  revenue  necessary  to  support  it  for  a  single 
day,   defective  in  the   theory  of  government  on   which   it 


102  MADISON'  ADVOCATES  REFORK 

claimed  foundation,  wholly  lacking  power  to  exercise  tliose 
functions  of  practical  administration  which  constitute  the 
vitality  of  government,  having  passed  through  every  stage 
of  misery,  from  inherent  defect  to  suspected  decrepitude, 
frona  acknowledged  decrepitude  into  open  neglect,  and  from 
common  neglect  into  notorious  contempt,  ceased  to  attract 
any  more  attention  among  men  save  for  a  few  flickering  mo- 
ments before  it  expired  forever. 

As  the  merchants  of  Boston  had  found  an  advocate  in 
Governor  Bowdoin,  so  the  planters  of  Virginia,  a  year 
later,  appealing  to  the  House  of  Burgesses,  found  an  advo- 
cate in  James  Madison.  The  planters  knew,  as  knew  the 
northern  merchants,  that  tlie  general  government  had  repu- 
diated its  debts  ;  they  knew  tliat  the  several  States  had 
begun  to  scale  or  to  repudiate  the  State  debts,  and  ordinary 
powers  of  reason  led  them  to  believe  that  in  a  short  time, 
bow  soon  no  man  could  tell,  private  individuals  Avould  be 
unable  to  collect  the  lawful  claims  outstanding  in  their 
favor.  Madison,  on  the  last  day  of  the  session  of  IVSG,  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  the  House  to  pass  an  act  in  the  immediate 
interest  of  tlie  people  of  Virginia,  but  an  act  the  conse- 
quences of  which  no  statesman  could  have  foreseen.  He 
began  a  movement  which  from  obscure  origin,  perhaps 
among  merchants  and  planters,  gained  strength  Avith  every 
slight  advance,  which  passed  (jaickly  and  almost  imperce))ti- 
bly  from  State  to  State,  an<l  swelU'd  at  last  into  a  national 
impulse  tliat  found  adequate  ex{)ression  in  the  Constitutional 
Convention  of  1V8V. 

lU'twecn  Maryland  iiud  Virginia  the  Potomac  River  was 
tlu'    boundary    line.      It   was   the   CDniinon   liigliway  of  com- 


THE  COMMISSION  AT  MOUNT  VERNON.  103 

merce  to  und  from  the  States  along  its  banks  and  to  and 
from  other  States  drained  by  it  or  by  its  tributaries.  The 
duties  levied  by  the  laws  of  Maryland  and  Virginia  were 
constantly  evaded  by  smugglers,  who  skillfully  succeeded  in 
landing  goods  from  foreign  countries  in  Maryland  as  goods 
from  Virginia,  or  in  Virginia  as  goods  from  Maryland. 
Each  State  had  long  accused  the  other  of  harboring  smug- 
glers, and  complaints  had  been  brought  repeatedly  before 
the  two  legislatures.  As  early  as  1784  Madison  had  made 
personal  observation  of  these  infractions  of  interstate  law, 
aiid  had  written  to  Jefferson  suggesting  the  appointment  of 
a  joint  commission  of  the  two  States  for  the  purpose  of 
ascertaining  tlie  respective  rights  of  the  States  over  the 
commerce  of  the  river.  A  bill  was  soon  brought  into  the 
Vriginia  House  of  Burgesses.  Three  commissioners  wei-e 
appointed  for  that  Commonwealth.  Three  were  appointed 
by  Maryland,  and  in  March,  1785,  the  commissioners  nict 
at  Alexandria  ;  but  they  soon  adjourned  to  Mount  Vernon, 
in  order  to  consult  with  Washington.  As  the  commissioners 
entered  u})on  an  examination  of  the  interests  before  tliem 
many  questions  arose  pertinent  to  the  case,  but  beyond  their 
powers  to  settle.  Delaware  and  Pennsylvania  were  inter- 
ested in  the  commerce  of  the  river.  If  it  was  to  the  advan- 
tage of  Maryland  and  Virginia  to  agree  to  uniform  duties, 
was  not  a  similar  agreement  beneficial  to  Pennsylvania  and 
to  Delaware  ?  If  to  four  States,  why  not  extend  the  agree- 
ment to  all  the  States  of  the  Union  ?  Washington  said  to 
the  commissioners,  "  The  proposition  is  self-evident ;  we  are 
either  a  united  people  or  we  are  not  so.  If  the  former,  let 
us  in  all  matters  of  national  concern  act  as  a  nation  which 


104    WA  SniKG  TOy  BECLA  RES  FOR  A  MORE  PERFECT  UNIOK 

lias  a  national  character  to  support.  If  the  States  individu- 
ally attemjDt  to  regulate  commerce  an  abortion  or  a  many- 
headed  monster  will  be  the  issue.  If  we  consider  ourselves  or 
wish  to  be  considered  by  others  as  a  united  jjeople,  why  not 
adopt  the  measures  which  are  characteristic  of  it  and  sup- 
port the  honor  and  dignity  of  one  ?  If  we  are  afraid  to 
trust  one  another  under  qualified  powers  there  is  an  end  of 
union." 

These  ideas  advanced  by  Washington  were  ideas  in  the 
mind  of  many  thoughtful  men  in  the  country  at  the  time 
and  were  the  seed  of  the  more  perfect  Union.  While  yet  at 
Mount  Vernon  the  commissioners  drew  up  a  report  suggest- 
ing that  two  commissioners  be  appointed  by  each  State  wa- 
tered by  the  Potomac  to  report  a  uniform  system  of  customs 
next  3^ear.  Maryland  at  once  invited  Pennsylvania  and 
Delaware  to  participate  in  this  common  commercial  policy. 
Virginia,  leading  the  way  to  a  grander  result,  passed  a  simi- 
lar resolution  extending  its  provisions,  and,  sending  a  copy  to 
each  State,  invited  all  to  appoint  delegates  to  meet  in  a 
Trade  Convention  at  Annapolis  on  the  second  Monday  in 
September,  1786.  The  spirit  of  the  merchants  and  of  the 
planters  had  taken  hold  of  tlie  legislators.  It  M'as  this  far- 
reaching  resolution  that  the  House  of  Burgesses  passed  on 
the  last  day  of  the  session  of  1786,  and  it  ^vas  Madison,  ad- 
vocating the  cause  of  the  Virginia  planters,  and  of  the  mer- 
chants of  Boston  as  well,  who  inserted  a  clause  M^hich  met 
the  approval  of  the  House,  that  the  Convention  about  to  be 
called  should  be  empowered  to  take  into  consideration  the 
trade  and  commence  of  the  whole  country,  and  that  Congress 
nliould  be  vested  M'ith  jxnvers  to  regulate  commerce. 


THE  rAMniLETEERS.  105 

On  the  9th  of  April  Otto  had  written  to  his  government: 
Congfress  aflbrds  the  States  "  a  £>limi)se  of  the  fatal  and  inev- 
itable  consequences  of  bankru})tcy,  and  it  declares  to  the 
whole  world  that  it  is  not  to  blame  for  the  violation  of  the 
engagements  which  it  has  made  in  the  name  of  its  constitu- 
ents. All  its  resources  are  exhausted;  the  payment  of  taxes 
diminishes  daily,  and  scarcely  suffices  for  the  modest  exijenses 
of  the  government;  the  present  crisis  concerns  solely  the  exist- 
ence of  Congress  and  of  the  Confederation.  The  most  impor- 
tant members  of  Congress  are  doing  all  in  their  power  to  add 
to  the  act  of  confederation  some  articles  which  the  present 
situation  of  affaii's  renders  indispensable;  they  propose  to  give 
to  Congress  executive  powers  and  the  right  to  make  exclus- 
ively emissions  of  paper  money  and  of  regulating  commerce." 

Franklin  wrote  to  Jefferson,  then  in  Paris,  that  "  the  dis- 
position to  furnish  Congress  with  amjDle  powers  is  augment- 
ing daily  as  the  people  become  more  enlightened."  The 
newspapers  teemed  with  the  writings  of  obscure  economists, 
yet  not  all  obscure.  Publius  *  had  addressed  the  American 
public  before,  and  he  was  soon  to  address  them  again  in  a 
series  of  brief  newspaper  articles  which  have  become  the 
first  American  political  classic.  But  there  were  obscurer  men 
than  Publius,  for  Cato  and  Camillus,  Plain  Farmer  and  Cin- 
cinnatus  wrote  also.  Innumerable  jDamphlets,  which  are  yet 
turning  up  in  our  day,  bore  the  burden  of  the  song  of  "present 
discontent."  Even  the  professors  in  the  colleges  were  said  to 
emerge  from  the  mysteries  of  logic  and  of  Aristotle  to  examine 
critically,  ere  it  was  too  late,  the  much-talked-of  Articles  of 
Confederation,  under  which  they  suddenly  discovered  that 
*  Hamilton;  the  classic  is  The  Federalist. 


106  THE  ANNAPOLIS  CONVENTION. 

tliey  liad  been  living  for  several  years.  Again  were  the 
Greek  and  the  Italian  republics  compelled  to  do  a  post- 
mortem service  to  mankind,  and  what  parallels  were  drawn 
between  the  Confederation  and  the  Achoean  League,  between 
Amalfi  and  Modena  !  Clergymen  discoursed  from  ijolitical 
texts,  and  during  the  recess  of  the  court  the  lawyers 
dropped  their  arguments  before  the  jury  and  took  up  new 
arguments  in  defense  of  favorite  systems  of  finance  as  applied 
to  a  government  which  had  never  pursued  any  system.  The 
interests  of  trade,  of  the  currency,  of  commerce,  and  of  a 
national  government  were  for  the  first  time  in  America 
assuming  a  pronounced  political  character.  The  whole  nat- 
ure of  the  absorbing  theme  was  of  the  administration  rather 
than  of  the  ])rinci[)les  of  government. 

Tlie  Ti-ade  Convention  met  at  Annapolis  in  September, 
but  the  attendance  of  delegates  was  so  small  as  to  discourage 
the  few  who  had  assembled  from  taking  into  prolonged  con- 
sideration at  that  time  the  grave  questions  that  agitated  the 
country.  Neither  Georgia  nor  South  Carolina  sent  dele- 
gates, nor  was  a  single  New  England  State  represented. 
Little  was  done  except  to  meet  and  to  adjourn.  But  before 
:idj(jurning  Madison  and  Ilaniillon  agreed  u])on  a  report 
which,  drawn  with  all  of  ITaniilton's  skill  and  foresight,  was 
adopted  b^-  tlie  Convent  ion  after  a  discussion  lasting  two 
days.  'J'lic  rc]>oil  urged  tliat  a  new  Convention,  composed  of 
delegates  from  eacli  State,  ])ossessing  greater  powers  than 
those  confcii-cd  on  ilic  delegates  to  tlu;  Annapolis  Conven- 
tion, should  be  ealle(l  to  meet  in  i'hiladelpliia  on  the  second 
Monday  of  May,  IVHT.  Co)»ies  of  this  report  were  sent  to 
tlie  States,  and  the  Annapolis  Trade  (\)nvention  adjourned. 


THE  ORDINANCE  OF  1787.  107 

Again  Virginia  took  the  lead,  and  on  the  9th  of  Noveniher 
the  House  of  Burgesses  passed  a  bill,  brought  in  by  Madison, 
that  the  State  should  send  delegates  to  the  proposed  Consti- 
tutional Convention.  The  first  delegate  chosen  by  any  State 
was  chosen  by  Virginia,  and  he  was  her  foremost  citizen, 
Washington.  Madison  Avas  the  fifth  chosen,  and  his  services 
in  the  Convention  were  destined  to  be  greater  than  those 
of  any  otlier  delegate  on  the  floor.  Virginia  was  followed 
speedily  by  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Nortli 
Carolina,  and  Georgia,  which  in  succession  elected  delegates. 
In  Massachusetts  a  bitter  faction  delayed  the  election  until 
tlie  21st  of  February,  on  which  day  Congress  also  gave  its 
weak  and  formal  consent  to  the  calling  of  the  Convention. 
Rhode  Island  never  sent  a  delegation  ;  but  before  midsum- 
mer every  other  State  was  represented.  On  the  14th  of 
May,  1787,  the  Convention  assembled  in  the  old  State  House 
in  Philadelphia,  where  so  many  of  the  delegates  had  already 
won  a  just  fame.  At  the  same  time  Congress  was  in  session 
in  New  York,  and  on  the  13th  of  July  it  passed  an  ordinance 
which  has  imparted  immortal  fame  to  the  last  labors  of  the 
Congress  of  the  Confederation;  the  ordinance  of  1787  was 
passed,  providing  for  the  organization  of  the  territory  north 
of  the  river  Ohio  in  which  "  slavery,  except  as  a  punishment 
for  crime  for  which  the  party  had  been  duly  convicted,  was 
forever  prohibited."  This  act  fixed  the  boundary  of  slavery 
in  the  United  States — a  boundary  continued  westward  by 
the  great  compromise  of  1820  ;  a  boundary  which  was  the 
theme  of  endless  controversy  and  again  of  compromise  in 
1850;  a  boundary  which  was  set  aside  by  the  decision  in  the 
Dred  Scott  case  seven  years  later;  a  boundary  which  disap- 


lOS  CONGRESS  SETS  THE  DA  Y. 

peared  at  last  in  the  smoke  of  battle.  This  boundary  lu'- 
came  in  our  political  history  the  precedent  for  a  policy  of 
slavery  restriction,  which,  at  first  appearing  as  the  ordinance 
itself,  grew  at  last  into  a  sentiment  of  the  majority  of  the 
l^eople  of  the  United  States  and  was  set  into  the  national 
Constitution  in  1865  in  the  very  language  which  is  found  in 
the  ordinance  passed  nearly  eighty  years  before. 

When  the  work  of  the  Constitutional  Convention  was  done 
and  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  made,  it  was 
forwarded  to  the  Congress  of  the  Confederation  to  be  ap- 
proved by  that  body  and  by  it  to  be  sent  to  the  executives 
of  the  States.  There  Avere  delegates  in  Congress  who  did 
not  favor  any  pi'oposition  to  empower  Congress  to  levy  taxes 
or  to  regulate  commerce,  and  they  played  the  jiart  of  obstruc- 
tionists to  the  end.  On  the  27th  of  September,  1787,  Con- 
gress agreed  to  send  the  new  Constitution  to  the  States  for 
ratification  or  rejection,  and  during  the  following  twelve 
months  the  action  of  the  States  was  officially  made  known  to 
Congress:  the  Constitution  was  adopted.  It  was  left  for 
Congress  to  prepare  the  way  for  the  entrance  of  the  new 
government,  and  on  the  13th  of  September,  1788,  it  fixed 
the  first  Wednesday  in  January  of  1789  as  the  time  for 
choosing  presidential  electors,  the  first  Wednesday  in  Feb- 
ruary as  the  time  for  the  meeting  of  the  electors  and  the 
choice  of  a  President  of  the  United  States,  and  the  first 
Wednesday  of  March  as  the  day  when  the  new  Constitu- 
tion sliould  become  the  sui>reme  law  of  the  land  and  tlie 
President-elect  should  be  inaugurated.  Five  Aveeks  later, 
when  the  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  YorktOAvn  had  for 
tlie  seventh  time  returned,  the  Congress  of  the  Confedera- 


WHY  THE  GONFEDERATION  FAILED.  109 

tion  expired  for  want  of  a  quorum,  and  the  Confederation 
came  to  an  end. 

If  Ave  seek  for  the  cause  of  tlie  decay  of  the  Confederation 
it  is  found  in  its  inability  to  levy  taxes,  to  raise  a  revenue, 
to  regulate  commerce.  These  functions  were  exercised  l)y 
the  State  legislatures.  For  generations  the  struggle  h;ul 
gone  on  in  England  between  king  and  Parliament  for  tlic 
possession  of  the  taxing  power,  and  the  king  had  l)een  van- 
quished. For  more  than  a  hitndred  and  sixty  years  the  strug- 
gle was  continued  in  America,  but  the  struggle  was  between 
the  Parliament  and  the  colonial  assemblies,  and  Parliament 
was  vanquished.  And  when  peace  was  won  and  independence 
was  acknowledged  the  struggle  over  the  taxing  power  contin- 
ued in  a  new  form,  not  between  the  State  assemblies,  but  be- 
tween two  systems  of  government  which  for  the  first  time  in 
America  were  discovered  as  essential  to  the  perfection  of 
representative  government — the  local  system  represented  by 
the  States,  and  the  national  system  represented  feebly  by  the 
Confederation.  The  Confederation  was  the  creation  of  the 
assemblies — not  their  master  or  their  equal.  It  was  not  at 
all  clear  to  the  people  how  a  national  government  should  be 
organized,  Avhen,  in  1776,  their  representatives  in  the  Conti- 
nental Congress  brought  in  that  report  which  constituted 
the  Articles  of  the  Confederation.  A  national  government 
implied  a  system  of  administration  whose  functions  were 
yet  obscure.  Grinding  necessity  compelled  the  calling  of  a 
"J^rade  Convention,  and  the  Annapolis  Convention  pointed  the 
way  toward  a  more  perfect  Union.  The  august  powers  of 
a  supreme  law  must  be  exercised  before  the  creation  of  a 
national  government  could  be  possible.     A  double  system, 


110  THE  TWO  SYSTEMS. 

local  and  national,  must  be  worked  out,  witli  lu  aljrupt 
departure  from  precedents,  for  safetj^'s  sake.  Each  com- 
plete within  itself,  these  two  systems  were  to  he  inaugurated 
by  the  continuation  of  the  State  governments  and  hy  the 
formation  of  the  Constitution  by  the  people  of  the  United 
States. 


VIRGINIA   CALLS  A   CONVENTION  Foil  AMERICA.        Ill 


CHAPTER    III. 

HOW    THE    NATIONAL    CONSTITUTION    WAS    MADE,    CONEEKKIXG 
ALL   NECESSARY    POWERS  ON    THE    NATIONAL    GOVERNMENT. 

1787. 

When  Congress  asked  the  States  to  amend  the  Articles  so 
that  it  might  levy  a  tax  according  to  population  and  spend  the 
revenue  to  pay  interest  on  the  public  debt,  twelve  States  had 
consented  ;  but  Rhode  Island  refused,  and  the  amendment 
was  not  made.  When  Congress  asked  again  for  powers  to 
levy  an  impost  by  specific  duties  twelve  States  assented,  but 
New  York  refused,  and  the  measure  failed  ;  and  when  Con- 
gress made  a  third  attempt  for  revenue,  asking  that  the 
power  to  regulate  trade  be  granted  for  twenty-fi\'e  years, 
twelve  States  consented,  but  New  York  again  refused. 
Mindful  of  these  failures,  the  Congress  had  consented  to  the 
calling  of  a  Constitutional  Convention.  Had  this  last  effort 
to  amend  the  Articles  emanated  only  from  Congress  itself, 
doubtless  the  effort  would  have  shared  the  fate  of  the  earlier 
attempts  at  amendment,  but  the  call  for  the  Constitutional 
Convention  of  1787  came  from  the  leading  State  in  the 
Union,  Virginia,  and  it  was  known  that  Washington  favored 
the  movement.  Imitating  the  example  of  Virginia,  the  States 
elected  delegates  to  the  proposed  Convention,  and  to  this 
day  the  fame  of  the  men  they  chose  is  one  of  the  glories  of 
American  history. 


112  THE  JI EX  CHOSEN. 

From  Virginia  came  George  Washington,  the  most  in- 
fluential man  in  America ;  James  Madison,  a  member  of 
the  House  of  Burgesses,  and  destined  to  serve  under  the 
Constitution,  soon  to  be  formed,  as  foreign  minister,  as  mem- 
ber of  Congress,  as  secretary  of  state,  and  twice  as  President 
of  the  United  States ;  Edmund  Randoljjh,  governor  of  the 
State  and  tlie  first  attorney-general  of  the  United  States  ; 
John  Blair,  chief- justice  of  his  State,  a  graduate  of  William 
and  Mary  College,  a  great  lawyer,  and  later  an  associate 
justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States;  George 
Mason,  author  of  the  famous  "Declaration  of  Rights  "  of  Vir- 
ginia in  1776,  and  afterward  chosen  one  of  the  first  United 
States  senators  from  his  State  ;  George  Wythe,  a  signer  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  a  most  eminent  lawyer  and 
judge  in  his  State,  and  the  legal  preceptor  of  two  Presidents 
and  of  one  chief-justice  of  the  United  States  ;  and  James 
McClurg,  a  graduate  of  William  and  Mary,  a  doctor  of 
medicine  from  Edinburgh,  and  at  the  head  of  his  profession 
in  that  State,  chosen  to  represent  Virginia  when  Patrick 
Henry  declined  to  serve. 

New  Hampshire  sent  Jolni  Langdon,  who  had  served  his 
State  in  the  old  Congress,  in  the  General  Assembly,  and  on 
the  bench,  destined  afterward,  as  temporary  speaker  of  the 
first  Congress,  to  notify  Washington  of  his  election  to  the 
])residency,  twice  governor  of  his  State,  and  once  United 
States  senator;  and  Nicholas  Gilman,  the  youngest  man 
chosen  to  the  Convention  by  any  State,  afterward  a  mem- 
ber of  the  House  of  R('])resentatives,  and  at  the  time  of  his 
dealh  a  T^iiitcd  Stales  senator. 

Massachusetts  sent   Klbiidge  Gerry,  the  fifth   signer  of  the 


THE  MEN  CHOSEN.  113 

Declaration,  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  afterward  a  member  of 
Congress,  an  envoy  to  France,  and  the  fourth  Vice-Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States;  Nathaniel  Gorham,  a  delegate  to 
the  old  Congress,  a  judge,  and  a  conspicuous  member  of  the 
ratifying  convention  of  his  State;  Rufus  King,  one  of  the 
authors  of  the  ordinance  of  1787,  afterward  three  times 
United  States  senator  from  New  York  and  twice  minister  to 
the  court  of  St.  James;  and  Caleb  Strong,  a  graduate  of  Har- 
vard, one  of  the  framers  of  the  constitution  of  his  State,  one 
of  its  first  United  States  senators  and  once  its  governor. 

From  Connecticut  came  William  Samuel  Johnson,  a  grad- 
uate of  Yale,  a  lawyer  of  eloquence  and  ability,  the  agent  of 
Connecticut  in  England  in  colonial  days,  the  friend  of 
Samuel  Johnson,  chief-justice  of  his  State,  member  of  the 
Continental  Congress,  first  United  States  senator  from  his 
State,  and  president  of  Columbia  College;  also  came  Roger 
Shermaji,  the  one  man  M'ho  is  distinguished  as  a  signer  of 
the  four  chief  state  papers  in  our  history,  the  Articles  of 
Association  of  1774,  the  Declaration  of  Independence  of 
1776,  the  Articles  of  Confederation  of  1781,  and  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States.  He  began  life  as  a  shoe- 
maker, but  by  reason  of  his  abilities  he  became  chief-jus- 
tice of  his  State,  which  office  he  resigned  after  a  tenure  of 
twenty-three  years,  to  become  a  member  of  Congress;  and 
at  the  time  of  his  death  he  was  a  senator  of  the  United 
States;  and  Oliver  Ellsworth,  a  graduate  of  Princeton,  a 
judge  in  his  State,  and  afterward  appointed  chief-justice  of 
the  United  States  by  Washington,  and,  later,  minister  to  the 
court  of  France. 

The  delegates  from  New  York  were  Robert  Yates,  who 
8 


114  THE  MEN  CHOSEN. 

had  served  as  a  member  of  the  provincial  Congresses  of  his 
State  and  who  afterward  became  its  cliief-justice;  John  Lan- 
sing, a  member  of  the  old  Congress,  and  afterward  the  suc- 
cessor of  Robert  Yates  as  chief -justice  of  the  State.  To 
Lansing  and  Yates,  who  opposed  the  new  Constitution  and 
left  the  Convention,  we  are  indebted  for  vahiable  notes  on 
tlie  debates  in  the  Convention  during  they*  membership. 
Ablest  of  the  New  York  delegation,  and  inferior  to  no  mind 
in  the  Convention,  was  Alexander  Hamilton,  who  had  served 
as  aid-de-camp  to  Washington,  as  member  of  the  legisla- 
ture of  his  State,  and,  though  deserted  by  his  colleagues,  he 
remained  in  the  Convention  and  exerted  a  most  extraordinary 
influence  over  his  fellow-members.  Afterward,  as  fii-st  secre- 
tary of  the  treasury,  "he  smote  the  corjjse  of  public  credit 
and  it  sprang  upon  its  feet."  To  Madison  is  doubtless  due  the 
honor  of  proposing  the  plan  of  the  national  government,  but 
the  lionor  of  applying  that  plan  later,  in  practical  administra- 
tion, is  due  chiefly  to  Hamilton. 

New  Jersey  chose  William  Livingstone,  a  graduate  of 
Yale,  a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress,  and  eleven 
times  governor  of  the  State;  David  Breark'y,  her  chief -jus- 
tice; William  Churchill  Houston,  her  member  in  Congress, 
William  Paterson,  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration, 
ten  times  attorney-general  of  his  State,  afterward  her 
senator  in  Congress,  once  her  governor,  and  later  appointed 
by  Washington  a  justice  of  tlie  Su])reine  Court  of  the 
Cnitcd  States;  and  Jonathan  Dayton,  a  graduate  of  Prince- 
ton, a  member  of  Assembly,  of  the  last  Continental  Con- 
gress, afterward  twice  speaker  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, and  once  United  States  senator. 


THE  MEN  CHOSEN.  115 

T?ut  no  State  could  l)oast  of  such  delegates  as  were  sent 
by  Pennsylvania.  Foremost  in  fame  was  Franklin,  who 
divided  with  Washington  the  admiration  of  the  world.  He 
was  widely  famed  before  many  of  his  illustrious  colleagues 
in  the  Convention  were  box'n;  he  was  the  only  American  of 
his  century  who  was  a  citizen  of  the  world.  In  science,  in 
dii»I()macy,  in  society,  in  letters,  in  practical  business,  in  great 
public  charities,  and  in  organizations  of  wide  influence  to  this 
day  he  was  foremost,  and  of  all  the  Americans  in  an  age  of 
great  men  he  is  still  more  talked  and  written  about  than  any 
save  Washington.  As  president  of  his  State  he  sat  most 
influential  in  the  delegation,  and  though  too  feeble  by  rea- 
son of  age  to  participate  actively  in  the  debates  in  the  Con- 
vention, l)y  his  presence  and  l^y  his  inexhaustible  good 
humor  and  practical  sagacity  his  influence  was  so  great 
that  it  may  be  said  that  the  Constitution  could  not  have 
been  framed  without  him.  With  him  were  Thomas  Mifflin, 
soldier,  member  of  Assembly,  and  nine  years  governor  of 
his  State;  Robert  Morris,  the  ^nancier  of  the  Revolution, 
delegate  to  Congress,  a  signer  of  the  Declaration,  first 
United  States  senator  from  Pennsylvania,  and  founder  of 
the  Bank  of  North  America;  George  Clymer,  one  of  the 
signers,  a  delegate  to  Congress,  and  afterward  a  member  of 
the  House  of  Representatives;  Thomas  Fitzsimons,  a  fa- 
mous merchant  of  Philadelphia;  Jared  Ingersoll,  the  leader 
of  the  bar  of  his  State;  James  Wilson,  a  student  at  four 
universities  and  tiie  ablest  constitutional  lawyer  in  the  Con- 
vention, a  frequent  debater,  and  afterward  professor  of  law 
in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  appointed  by  Wash- 
ington a  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States; 


116  TEE  MEN  CHOSEN. 

and  Gouverneur  Morris,  delegate  to  Congress,  and  later  gov- 
ernor of  New  York,  and  afterward  one  of  its  United  States 
senators.  It  was  Gouverneur  Morris  wlio  was  chosen  by  the 
ConA'ention  to  Avrite  the  Constitution  in  its  tinal  form,  because 
his  colleagues  recognized  the  finish  and  elegance  of  his  style, 

Delaware  elected  George  Read,  one  of  the  signers  of  the 
Declaration,  a  member  of  the  Trade  Convention  at  Annap- 
olis, and  afterward  United  States  senator  and  chief-justice 
of  his  State;  Gunning  Bedford,  a  delegate  to  the  Assembly 
and  to  Congress,  and  afterward  commissioned  by  Washing- 
ton as  the  first  judge  of  the  federal  district  court  for 
Delaware;  John  Dickinson,  a  judge,  a  delegate  to  Congress, 
author  of  the  celebrated  letters  of  a  "  Farmer  "  and  of  the 
Declaration  of  1775;  while  a  member  of  the  Supreme  Coun- 
cil of  Pennsylvania  the  legislature  of  that  State  founded 
Dickinson  College  in  his  name.  The  State  also  sent  Richard 
Bassett,  afterward  United  States  senator  and  chief-justice  of 
his  State,  governor,  and  United  States  circuit  judge;  and 
Jacob  Broom,  a  member  of  »the  Annapolis  Convention,  and 
afterward  higlily  honored  by  the  people  of  Delaware. 

From  Maryland  the  delegates  were  James  McHenry,  a 
member  of  Washington's  military  family,  of  the  Senate  of 
Maryland  and  of  llic  Continental  (Vnigri'ss  at  the  same  time, 
al'lci  ward  secret ary  of  war  under  Wasliington;  Daniel  of  St. 
Thomas  Jenifer,  of  tlie  (\)un('il  of  Safety  foi"  his  State,  dele- 
gate to  Congi-ess,  a  member  of  the  commission  appointed  by 
Maryland  to  settle  llie  jurisdict ion  over  Chesapeake  Bay,  the 
commission  which  adjourned  to  Mount  Vernon,  and  whose 
re))ort  initiatc(l  the  movement  which  led  to  the  calling  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention;  Daniel  Carroll,  delegate  to  Con- 


THE  MEN  chosen:  1 1 7 

gress,  and  afU'i-ward,  as  member  of  Congress,  one  of  ihe  eoiu- 
missioiiers  that  located  tlut  capital  of  the  United  States; 
John  Francis  Mercer,  a  graduate  of  William  and  Mary  Col- 
lege, a  student  at  law  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  a  delegate  to 
Congress;  he  refused  to  sign  the  Constitution,  and  opposed  its 
ratification  by  the  people  of  his  State;  he  was  afterward  a 
representative  in  Congress  and  governor  of  Maryland;  and 
Luther  Martin,  one  of  the  distinguished  lawyers  of  his  day, 
attorney-general  of  his  State,  a  champion  of  State  riglits, 
and,  like  Yates  and  Lansing,  he  not  only  opposed  the  Consti- 
tution, but  became  one  of  the  four  of  its  members  from 
whose  letters  and  notes  the  debates  in  the  Convention  are  to 
some  extent  known.  But  lie  is  better  known  to  posterity  as 
of  counsel  to  Aaron  Burr  in  his  trial  for  conspiracy  to  over- 
throw the  national  government,  and  a  recipient,  in  his  last 
days,  of  the  charitable  legislation  of  his  State  and  of  the 
meager  hospitality  of  Burr. 

North  Carolina  chose  for  delegates  Alexander  Martin,  a 
graduate  of  Princeton,  a  member  of  Assembly,  of  the  first 
and  second  provincial  Congresses,  govei-no-r,  and  afterward 
United  States  senator;  William  Richard  Davie,  also  a  grad- 
uate of  Princeton,  afterward  governor  of  his  State,  and  en- 
voy to  France  with  Gerry  and  Ellsworth;  William  Blount, 
member  of  provincial  assemblies,  of  the  House  of  Commons 
of  his  State,  delegate  to  the  old  Congress,  afterward  gov- 
ernor of  the  territory  south  of  the  river  Ohio,  founder  of  the 
city  of  Knoxville,  and  United  States  senator  from  Tennessee, 
but  impeached,  found  guilty,  and  expelled  in  1797,  his  im- 
peachment settling  the  question  that  in  the  meaning  of  the 
Constitution  a  member  of  Congress  is  not  a  civil   officer; 


118  THE  MEN  CHOSEN. 

Richard  Dobbs  Spaight,  a  graduate  of  the  University  of 
Glasgow,  member  of  Assembly,  delegate  to  the  Continental 
Congress,  and  afterward  a  representative  in  Congress;  Hugh 
Williamson,  a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  professor  of  niathematics  in  that  institution,  one  of  the 
Americans  in  London  examined  by  the  Privy  Council  on  the 
subject  of  the  destruction  of  tea  at  Boston,  member  of  the 
North  Carolina  Assembly,  of  the  Continental  Congress,  and 
afterward  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 

From  South  Carolina  came  John  llutledge,  a  native  of  Ire- 
land, a  student  of  law  at  the  Temple,  inferior  to  none  of  his 
contemjtoraries  in  learning  and  eloquence,  meml)er  of  the 
first  Congress,  governor,  judge  of  the  State  court  of  chan- 
cery, appointed  by  Washington  a  justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  chief -justice  of  his  State,  and  ap- 
pointed chief-justice  of  the  United  States;  Charles  Cotes- 
worth  Pinckney,  educated  at  Oxford,  and  afterward  minister 
to  France;  Charles  Pinckney,  member  of  Assembly,  of  the 
Continental  Congress,  and  a  reputed  author  of  the  system 
of  government  finally  agreed  u})on  in  the  Convention,  four 
times  governor  of  his  State,  United  States  senator,  minister 
to  Spain,  and,  later,  mend)er  of  Congress;  Pierce  Butli'r,  also 
an  Irishman,  a  delegate  to  the  Continental  Congress,  active 
in  the  debates  in  the  Convention,  and  first  United  States 
senator  from  his  State. 

(leorgia  elected  William  Few,  like  so  many  of  his  col- 
leagues, meml)er  of  Assendjly  and  of  the  ( 'ontiiu'Utal  Congress; 
afterward  United  States  senatoi"  and  jueiidx'r  of  the  legis- 
lalure  of  New  Yoi-k;  Abraliaiu  iSnldwin,  a  graduate  of  Yah', 
and  some  linu!  a  tiilor  in  the  college,  president  of  the  Ti^niver- 


WASHING  TON  PRESIDES.  1 1 9 

sity  of  the  State,  of  which  lie  was  one  of  the  founders,  mem- 
ber of  the  Continental  Congress,  afterward  member  of  the 
House  of  Representatives,  and  United  States  senator;  Will- 
iam Houston  and  William  Pierce,  both  of  whom  had  been 
members  of  the  old  Congress. 

Rhode  Island  refused  to  choose  delegates,  and  was  not 
represented  in  the  Convention. 

By  these  fifty-five  men  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  was  made,  and  at  some  time  during  the  session  they 
were  present.  Eighteen  men,  chosen  as  delegates  by  eight 
of  the  States,  in  addition  to  the  fifty-five,  declined  to  serve 
and  never  attended  the  Convention. 

The  delegates  who  participated  in  the  immortal  work  of 
framing  the  national  Constitution  composed  the  most  remark- 
able body  of  statesmen  that  ever  assembled  on  this  continent. 
Each  of  them  was  famed  for  some  honorable  achievement 
in  civil  life;  many  of  them  had  served  with  distinction  in  the 
war;  together  they  represented  the  executive,  the  legislative, 
the  judicial,  and  the  military  experience  of  the  land;  famil- 
iar with  the  multifarious  forms  of  the  questions  of  the  hour; 
acquainted  with  the  practical  administration  of  affairs ;  fresh 
from  the  people  and  capable  of  knowing  what  constitutes 
the  general  welfare  and  how  to  form  a  more  perfeot  Union. 
On  the  25th  of  May,  1787,  in  the  assembly  hall  of  the  Stnle 
House  in  Philadelphia,  a  qitorum  of  States  being  present,  on 
motion  of  John  Langdon,  Washington  was  called  to  the 
chair.  William  Jackson  was  appointed  secretary.  Three 
days  later,  nine  States  being  represented  on  the  floor,  the 
doors  were  shut,  a  solemn  pledge  of  secrecy  Avas  imposed  on 
the  members,  and  the  work  of  the  Convention  began;  and  it 


120  THE  VIRGINIA  PLAN. 

was  not  till  fifty  years  had  passed  that  the  proceedings  in  the 
Convention  were  made  knoAvn.  Then,  by  authority  of  Con- 
gress, the  journal  Avas  published,  and,  of  greater  value,  Avere 
also  published  Madison's  notes,  taken  during  the  debates. 
From  the  journal,  from  Lansing  and  Yates's  notes,  from 
Lutlier  Martin's  letter  to  the  governor  of  Maryland,  and  from 
Madison's  notes,  from  the  letters  of  memlx>rs  of  the  Conven- 
tion written  at  the  time,  or  from  their  letters  and  conversa- 
tions in  later  life  preserA'ed  by  their  fi-iends,  their  descendants, 
and  their  heirs,  our  knowledge  of  hoAV  the  Constitution  Avas 
made  is  obtained. 

On  Tuesday,  the  29th,  Governor  Randolph  arose  and 
opened  the  AA^ork  of  the  Convention  by  presenting  fifteen 
resolutions  as  a  general  plan  of  national  government.  It  is 
known  as  the  Virginia  plan.  A  national  government  Avas  to 
be  established  consisting  of  a  supreme  executive,  a  supreme 
legislature,  a  supreme  judiciary,  and  a  council  of  revision. 
The  executive  should  be  chosen  by  the  legislatures  and  be 
ineligible  for  re-election.  The  legislature  should  consist  of 
two  branches,  should  possess  a  veto  power  on  all  laAvs  con- 
trary to  the  ncAV  Constitution,  and  should  have  poAver  to 
coerce  a  refractory  State.  Members  of  the  first  legislative 
branch  should  be  chosen  by  the  people  and  the  first  branch 
elect  the  members  of  tlie  second  from  nK>n  nominated  by 
the  State  legislatures.  Representation  in  the  lower  house 
sliould  be  apportioned  to  the  States  according  to  their  pop- 
ulation and  tlie  proportion  of  the  national  expenses  each 
Stat(!  should  bear.  The  ualional  judiciary  should  be  elected 
liS'  I  Ik:  iialioiial  legislature.  A  couiieil  of  revision,  consist- 
ing of  the  executive;  and  of  tlu;  Tlnited  States  judges,  should 


THE  FLAX  IS- DISCUSSED.  121 

revise  the  laws  before  lliey  Avent  into  operation.  New 
States  should  be  admitted  into  tlie  Union;  the  new  Con- 
stitution could  be  amended  and  each  State  should  be  guar- 
anteed a  republican  form  of  government  and  the  ownership 
of  the  soil  within  its  boundaries.  The  Convention  then  went 
into  a  committee  of  the  whole  on  the  state  of  the  Union,  and 
the  Virginia  plan  was  taken  up.  Charles  Pinckney  pre- 
sented to  this  committee  another  plan  for  a  Constitution  of 
which  little  is  known.  On  tlie  following  day,  and  for  a 
fortnight  longer,  the  details  of  the  Virginia  plan  were  dis- 
cussed, resolution  by  resolution.  Opinions  were  not  uniform, 
but  the  weight  of  numbers  declared  for  a  national  govern- 
ment of  three  branches,  a  legislature  of  two  houses,  and 
that  the  people  should  elect  the  members  of  one  house.  On 
the  organization  of  the  executive  every  sort  of  opinion  was 
expressed.  It  should  be  triple;  it  should  be  a  committee; 
it  should  be  one  person  with  a  council;  it  should  be  one  per- 
son without  a  counc/il ;  he  should  be  elected  by  the  national 
legislature  on  joint  ballot;  b}''  one  branch  of  the  national 
legislatui'e;  by  both  branches  by  lot;  by  the  governors  of 
the  States;  by  the  State  legislatures;  by  electors;  by  the 
people  directly.  It  was  determined  that  the  executive 
should  be  one  person,  elected  for  seven  years,  ineligible  for 
re-election,  and  that  the  national  legislature  should  deter- 
mine the  manner  of  choosing  him. 

By  this  time  the  5th  of  June  had  come,  and  the  various 
and  irreconcilable  ideas  among  the  members  were  clearly  seen. 
Unanimity  raj^idly  disappeared.  The  Convention  fell  apart 
into  sectional  parties,  of  the  East,  of  the  Middle  States,  and 
of  the  South;  parties  not  clearly  defined  but  animated  by  a 


122  THE  NEW  JERSEY  PLAN. 

sectional  spirit.  From  debating,  men  fell  to  wrangling. 
There  were  individuals  and  there  were  whole  delegations 
seriously  opposed  to  a  national  government;  to  any  kind  of  a 
confederacy  of  the  States;  to  State  sovereignty,  or  even  to 
any  change  in  the  old  Articles  of  Confederation.  The  North 
was  commercial;  the  South  Avas  agricultural;  there  were  great 
States  like  Virginia,  and  there  were  little  States  like  Dela- 
ware. It  soon  became  plain  that  if  a  Constitution  was  to  be 
framed  at  all  it  must  be  by  compromises,  and  of  compromises 
there  were  three — one  on  representation,  one  on  slavery  and 
the  slave-trade,  and  one  on  the  control  of  commerce.  The 
great  States  were  Massachusetts,  Pennsylvania,  and  Virginia, 
great  in  area  and  in  population;  they  favored  a  strong  cen- 
tral government  with  rej^resentation  in  the  national  legisla- 
ture based  on  population.  The  small  States  were  New 
Jersey,  New  York,  and  Delaware,  and  they  insisted  on  the 
principle  of  representation  in  the  old  C^onfederation,  the 
efpial  I'epresentation  of  the  States  in  the  national  legislature. 
There  seemed  to  be  of  no  way  of  compromising  the  two  ideas 
on  representation. 

At  this  critical  movement  New  Jersey,  led  by  Paterson, 
took  the  ilooi-.  lie  held  a  conservative  j)osition.  The  Conven- 
tion Avas  going  beyond  its  powers.  It  had  assembled  to  amend 
the  Articles  of  Confederation,  not  to  abolish  them.  The  idea 
of  ihe  Articles  was  good.  The  States  were  sovereign  and 
(•(piality  of  representation  was  the  only  })ossible  basis  for 
amendment.  Poj)ular  i-epresentation  or  re])resentation-  ac- 
cording to  weallh  was  unfair.  If  ])Oj)ulation  iix(>d  re])resenta- 
lion  Virginia  woiilil  liaxc  sixteen  votes,  Georgia  but  one.  New 
Jersey  would  ne\cr  consent  to  such  a  plan. 


THE  NFAV  JERSEY  PLAN.  123 

To  Patoivson's  objections  tlie  adherents  of  the  Virginia  plan 
replied  that,  true  enough,  tlic  States  were  sovereign  and  equal. 
So,  too,  was  evei-y  man  Ly  nature  sovereign  and  equal  to  every 
other  man;  but  when  civil  government  is  formed  the  indivi- 
(bial  must  surrendei"  something  for  the  general  good.  It  was 
so  with  the  States.  A  national  government  could  not  be 
formed  if  the  States  remained  sovereign.  Government  is 
founded  on  the  people,  and  representatives  should  therefore 
be  apportioned  to  equal  numbers  of  the  people.  It  was  the 
people,  not  the  States,  that  were  to  be  represented.  An  equit- 
ab'le  ratio  could,  be  fixed  for  representation  just  as  four  years 
before  the  quotas  among  the  States  liad  been  fixed  by  the 
Congress.  The  ratio  was  known  to  all;  according  to  the 
whole  number  of  free  inhabitants  of  both  sexes,  and  three 
fifths  of  all  other  persons  except  Indians  not  taxed. 

To  this  view  the  large  States  assented.  The  great  States 
had  won,  and  representation  in  both  branches  of  the  national 
legislature  was  to  be  according  to  ]iopulation.  But  the  small 
States  were  by  no  means  satisfied.  Their  leading  delegates 
conferred  together.  By  the  13th  of  June  the  remaining  pro- 
visions of  the  Viiginia  plan  had  passed  the  committee,  and  it 
was  thought  by  many  that  a  day  should  be  named  for  consid- 
ering the  report,  when  Paterson  claimed  the  attention  of  the 
Convention  and  introduced  what  is  known  as  the  New  Jersey 
plan.  Congress  was  to  consist,  like  the  old  Congress,  of  a  single 
house,  empowered  to  regulate  trade  and  commerce,  to  levy 
duties,  to  fix  jtostage  rates,  and  to  require  stamps  on  certain 
articles.  The  executive  should  consist  of  a  committee,  eligible 
for  a  single  term  and  removal)le  by  Congress  upon  request  of 
a  majority  of  the  governors  of  the  States.     There  should  be  a 


;  24  WJLS  ox  TA  KES  THE  EL  OOR. 

supeme  court,  naturalization  laws  of  uniform  application,  and 
the  States  should  send  their  several  quotas  of  national  revenue 
to  Congress  as  under  the  Articles  of  Confederation.  This  Con- 
stitution and  the  laws  and  treaties  made  nnder  it  were  to  he 
the  supreme  law  of  the  land,  and  to  this  Constitution  all 
officers  were  to  make  oath  of  allegiance.  In  support  of  this 
plan  its  friends  maintained  that  it  was  strictly  according  to 
the  jiowers  of  the  Convention,  and  that  while  amending  the 
Articles  it  amended  them  in  a  manner  which  the  people 
M'ould  easily  understand  and  accept.  Further  than  to  pro- 
pose such  a  plan  the  Convention  had  no  powers  to  go,  as 
every  delegate  knew  if  he  would  read  his  commission.  To 
change  the  Articles  required  specific  powers  and  the  consent 
of  all  the  States.  Either  the  Convention  must  accept  the 
New  Jersey  plan,  or  go  home  and  ask  for  powers  to  make  a 
new  government. 

Then  the  friends  of  the  Virginia  plan  defended  their  plan 
of  government,  and  James  Wilson  took  the  floor.  New  Jer- 
sey proposed  hut  one  department  of  government,  Virginia 
three;  hy  the  New  Jersey  }ilan  the  States  would  he  repre- 
sented; hy  the  Virginia  plan,  the  people.  By  the  New 
Jersey  plan  the  minority  would  rule;  hy  the  Virginia  plan, 
the  majority.  By  the  New  Jersey  plan  State  law  out-ranked 
national  law;  hy  the  Virginia  plan  the  national  legislature 
could  veto  lh(>  laws  of  the  States.  Madison  pointed  out,  in 
defense  of  (lie  \'ii-ginia  plan,  of  which  he  was  prohably  the 
author,  lliat  tlu^  Ni'W  Jersey  i)lan  and  the  Articles  of  Con- 
fcderalion  were  substantially  tlie  same.  The  national 
aiilliiiritv  w:is  e(|ii;illv  weak  hy  either  pluu;  it  could  not 
punish    fill-  \  idl.ilions  uf   its  laws;    it  could   not  maintain   its 


HAMILTON'S  IDEAS.  12b 

treaties;  it  could  not  prevent  one  State  from  invading  the 
rights  of  another;  it  could  not  secure  domestic  tranquillity 
nor  guarantee  a  republican  form  of  govei'ninent  to  the  State 
nor  provide  for  the  common  defense.  In  no  respect  by  the 
adoption  of  the  New  Jersey  plan  would  the  ])eople  of  the 
United  States  be  any  better  off  than  they  were  under  the 
Articles  of  Confederation. 

At  this  juncture  Hamilton  arose  and  with  characteristic 
boldness  attacked  both  the  Virginia  and  New  Jersey  jilaus, 
and  presented  briefly  and  clearly  his  own  ideas  of  what  the 
national  government  should  be.  lie  was  then  just  thirty 
years  of  age,  youthful  in  appeai'auce,  fascinating  in  his  man- 
ner, and  persuasive  in  his  speech.  It  is  said  that  his  ideas 
were  niox'e,  admired  than  followed  by  his  colleagues.  lie 
began  by  saying  that  he  doubted  whether  the  Convention 
would  frame  the  most  desirable  kind  of  government.  He 
intimated  that  the  people  would  hardly  sustain  such  a  gov- 
ernment, which  would,  in  their  opinion,  be  too  aristocratic, 
or  at  least  too  undemocratic.  Ilis  ideas  were  that  the  supreme 
legislature  should  consist  of  two  houses,  an  Assembly  and  a 
Senate;  the  members  of  Assembly  chosen  by  the  people  fur 
thi'ee  years  and  the  members  for  the  Senate  to  be  elected  by 
electors  chosen  by  the  people,  to  serve  during  good  behavior. 
The  executive  was  to  serve  during  good  behavior,  and  should 
be  one  man,  chosen  by  electors.  His  j)owers  were  to  be 
supreme:  to  veto  any  law;  to  conduct  war  if  once  begun;  to 
make  treaties  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the 
Senate,  and  to  appoint  the  heads  of  departments  at  his  own 
discretion.  The  national  judiciary  should  be  supreme.  State 
laws  conflicting  with  the  Constitution  and  the  national  laws 


126  TWO  OPPOSING  SYSTEMS. 

were  to  be  void.  The  governors  of  tlie  States  were  to  be 
appointed  by  tlie  national  government.  Hamilton's  notions 
were  too  closely  aftei'  British  models,  and  they  were  not  de- 
bated. The  Convention  then  returned  to  the  Virginia  and 
New  Jersey  plans.  The  Virginia  plan  Avas  the  germ  of  the 
national  idea;  the  New  Jersey  plan  was  essentially  that  of 
State  sovereignty.  New  Jersey  advocated  a  general  gov- 
ei'nniL'nt  of  limited  powers;  Virginia,  a  general  government 
with  powers  "extending  to  every  thing  or  to  nothing." 

Mindful  of  the  state  of  the  country  and  of  the  need  of  a 
strong  national  government,  the  Committee  of  the  Whole 
reported  in  favor  of  the  Virginia  plan.  For  a  week  the 
work  proceeded  smoothly.  The  great  States  had  again 
triumphed.  Slight  modifications  in  the  language  of  the 
resolutions  on  representation  were  made  to  please  the  small 
States,  and  the  word  "national,"  distasteful  to  the  New 
Jersey  party,  was  drojjped  in  some  places.  During  the 
remainder  of  June  the  Convention  went  back  and  fortii 
through  the  resolutions.  Sliould  the  national  legislature 
consist  of  two  houses?  Should  its  members  be  twenty-five 
or  thirty  years  of  age  ?  AVhat  should  be  their  term  ?  Should 
there  be  three  executives  or  one  ?  But  these  questions  were 
inferior  in  importance  to  the  great  question  of  the  l)asis  of 
representation.  'I'hcn  and  thei'c  came  to  light  in  the  de- 
bates, in  all  their  essential  character  as  the  examination  of 
the  resolutions  continued,  two  sets  of  political  ideas  between 
which  i'cc<rii(iliation  seemi-d  impossible. 

Tlic  State  rights  men  would  found  the  new  government 
on  tlic  States  as  soverei'^iis;  tlie  national  men  would  tound 
it   «Jii    imlividiials.     The    little    States    exclaimed    tliat    their 


THE  CONNECTICUT  COMPROMISE.  127 

riglits  and  liberties  would  be  swallowed  up  by  po[)ular  repre- 
sentation in  both  branches  of  the  national  legislature.  The 
great  States  replied  that  there  was  greater  danger  to  them- 
selves than  to  the  small  States,  because  it  was  the  experien(;e 
of  history  that  great  States  contiguous  to  each  other  and 
sovereign  parts  of  an  imperial  system  could  not  agree,  and 
that  some  of  them  would  join  the  little  States.  Moreovei", 
there  was  nothing  common  to  "the  larger  States.  Their 
interests  were  all  unlike.  If  equal  suffrage  ])revailed  they 
would  be  compelled  to  bear  much  heavier  burdens  than 
would  the  little  States  in  su])port  of  the  new  government. 
The  large,  not  the  small  States,  were  the  States  to  make 
complaint.  But  the  small  States  were  not  persuaded  by  these 
affirmations,  and  a  serious  interruption  in  the  work  of  the 
Convention  seemed  imminent.  At  this  crisis  the  party  of 
compromise,  known  from  their  leaders  as  the  Connecticut 
party,  made  a  projjosition :  AVhy  not  adopt  both  ideas — the 
State  rights  ideas  and  the  ideas  of  the  Virginia  plan  V 
Virginia  considered  the  people  as  a  whole — let  one  house  in 
the  national  legislature  represent  the  people.  New  Jersey 
considered  the  people  as  composed  of  distinct  political  com- 
munities—let one  house  represent  these  communities.  To 
this  suggestion  of  compromise,  New  Jersey,  New  York,  and 
Delaware  would  not  listen;  but  the  great  States  accepted  the 
compromise. 

But  the  comjiromise  on  representation  was  not  made 
without  angry  words,  Avithout  threats  of  secession,  and 
without  personal  and  bitter  remarks.  The  whole  matter 
was  considered  by  a  committee  of  eleven,  and  the  debates  in 
committee  were  no  less  bitter  than  those  in  Convention.     It 


128'  THE  BASIS  OF  REPRESENTATION. 

was  evident  that  a  crisis  had  come.  Tlieii  Franklin  acted 
the  j)art  uf  peace-maker,  and  his  approval  of  tlie  Connecti- 
cut suggestion  favorably  influenced  his  colleagues  toward  it. 
Tlie  report  was  at  last  brought  in,  was  consi<lered,  and  was 
agreed  to — eacli  State  should  have  an  equal  vote  in  the 
second  branch,  and  one  representative  in  the  first  branch  for 
every  forty  thousand  inhabitants.  For  this  concession  the 
smaller  States  insisted  that  all  money  bills  should  orig'inate 
in  the  more  popular  branch;  that  such  bills  could  not  be 
amended  in  the  second  branch,  and  that  no  money  could  be 
appropriated  without  the  consent  of  the  po}>ular  branch  of 
the  legislature.  The  vote  was  taken.  The  decision  was 
reached.  The  first  compromise  in  the  Constitution  was 
made.  Two  Aveeks  passed  before  the  final  vote  was  taken, 
but  the  compromise  was  never  changed. 

The  Convention  then  gave  its  attention  to  the  details  of 
representation.  The  resolution  fixing  representation  in  the 
lower  house  at  one  representative  to  forty  thousand  inhab- 
itants did  not  satisfy  some  of  the  delegates.  Population, 
they  said,  Avas  already  moving  westward.  The  East  must 
ultimately  feel  the  effects.  The;  Western  States  would  soon 
oul  vote  the  Eastern  States.  The  j)i-opoi-tion  was  too  speeilic. 
A  genei'al  system  was  safer.  'i\)  di'termine  the  rule  of 
representation  Randolph  proposed  a  census.  The  idea  was 
familiar  to  New  York  and  to  Massachusetts,  J)ut  a  census 
Itrought  (lifliculties  to  light.  In  the  SoutheiMi  States  were 
half  a  million  of  beings  wlioni  it  was  diflicult  to  classify. 
Were  they  ]iopiilalion  or  wealth  ?  They  were  propi'rty,  and 
cuiiM  be  bought  and  SoM,  leasc:d  and  mortgaged,  or  disposi'd 
of  by  gift  or  by  testament.     To  some  delegates  h\nn  tlie 


NEW  YORK  LEAVES  THE  CONVENTION.  129 

North  it  seciiu'd  that  they  shoukl  bu  accounted  as  was  live 
stock  ill  tlie  North.  They  should  be  classed  as  property,  and 
not  as  persons.  To  the  Southern  delegates  they  were  both  per- 
sons and  property,  and  as  persons  they  should  have  re[)re- 
sentation  in  the  government  about  to  be  established.  Hugh 
Williamson  at  once  proposed  that  the  census  should  be  of 
all  free  whites  and  three  fifths  of  all  other  persons.  Upon 
this  motion  the  Convention  divided  by  a  new  line.  The  di- 
vision into  great  States  and  small  States  disappeared.  The 
division  was  now  on  the  question  of  slavery.  Massachusetts, 
Pennsylvania,  and  New  Jersey  demanded  that  slaves  should 
not  be  represented  at  all.  Georgia,  South  Carolina,  and  Del- 
aware demanded  that  slaves  should  be  represented  equally 
Avith  whites.  Lansing  and  Yates,  of  New  York,  had  left  the 
Convention  when  the  Connecticut  compromise  passed  ;  Hamil- 
ton, left  alone,  could  not  vote,  and  New  York  was  no  longer  a 
member  of  the  Convention.  But  the  remaining  States,  Vir- 
ginia, North  Carolina,  and  Maryland,  though  not  unanimous 
ill  sentiment,  favored  the  view  of  the  three  Northern  States 
on  the  slavery  question,  that  slaves  should  not  be  represented. 
The  compi'omise  on  representation  in  the  national  legisla- 
ture was  not  without  a  precedent  in  State  experience,  for  in 
sevei-al  States  the  method  of  representation  in  the  two 
branches  of  the  legislature  was  on  the  plan  of  the  com- 
promise, Massachusetts  and  Virginia  both  having  representa- 
tion in  their  u})[)er  house  by  districts,  and  in  their  lower  house 
by  popular  vote.  But  when  the  problem  of  slave  represen- 
tation came  before  the  Convention  no  precedent  could  be 
quoted  from  the  States,  for  in  not  one  of  them  could  a  slave 
vote  nor  in  one  of  them  was  he  represented,     In  local  gov- 


130  SLAVERY. 

ernment  slavery  was  an  industrial,  but  not  a  political,  factor; 
in  national  government  slavery  at  once  assumed  both  indus- 
trial and  jiolitical  characteristics.  The  slave  was  both  person 
and  prt)perty,  and  the  general  government  was  to  be  founded 
on  persons  and  on  property.  Slavery  at  once  became  a  new 
problem,  if  not  unexpected  at  least  sufficiently  serious  to  di- 
vide the  Convention  into  two  parties. 

Slave  labor  was  as  necessary  to  the  South  as  free  labor  to 
the  North,  argued  the  Southern  delegates.  All  Avealth  there 
chiefly  depended  upon  such  labor.  Lands  rose  in  value  and 
the  production  of  the  country  and  its  imports  depended 
chiefly  on  the  labor  of  slaves.  In  time  of  war,  as  had  been 
recently  demonstrated,  slaves  could  be  relied  on  in  the  de- 
fense of  the  country.  As  the  proposed  government  was  to 
protect  property,  and  that  was  the  principal  reason  for 
making  it,  slaves  ought  to  liave  equal  representation  with 
the  whites.  The  opponents  of  slave  representation  replied 
that  slaves  were  not  represented  in  the  State  legislatures, 
that  they  could  not  vote,  nor  had  any  master  in  the  Soutli  a 
number  of  votes  in  2)roportion  to  the  number  of  his  slaves. 
The  denuind  of  the  Southern  delegates  Avas  unprecedented  ; 
more,  it  Avas  immoral  and  contrary  to  the  })rinciples  of  the 
American  governments,  Avhich  were  founded  on  (lie  riglits  of 
man.  Slave  representation  would  not  be  a  re[)resentation  of 
the  slave,  but  an  increase  in  the  ])ulitical  j)Ower  of  his  njas- 
Icr.  Between  these  oj)])osing  ])arties,  as  between  Ihe  givat 
States  and  the  little  States  the  Connecticut  men  had  i-isen  as  a 
party  of  compromise,  so  now  rose  a  third  party,  a  party  (»f 
compromise.  The  negro  slave  was  not  equal  to  the  frei- 
wliitc  man,  yet   the   negro  slave   was  a  ])ei"son,  and  should, 


T.  1 XA  TION  AND  SLA  VER  Y.  1  :j  1 

LlKTC'lore,  liuvc  representation.  Perhaps  tlie  provisiuu  in  tlie 
Articles  of  t'un federation  was  as  near  riglit  as  eould  Ije  niaile, 
that  tlirec  Hfilis  of  tlie  slaves  should  be  counted.  Perhaps, 
as  slavery  was  a  State  institution,  the  slaves  might  be  repre- 
sented in  the  national  Senate. 

l>ut  the  way  out  of  the  difficulty  was  not  clear,  and  on  the 
vote  for  re})resentation  based  on  a  census  every  State  2>i"esent 
on  the  floor  voted  in  the  negative.  No  progress  thus  far  in 
arranging  the  plan  of  representation.  It  was  then  moved  by 
Gouverneur  Morris  that  taxation  be  in  the  ratio  of  representa- 
tion, and  the  motion  jiassed  that  direct  taxes  should  so  be  laid. 
But  an  alert  advocate  of  slave  representation  detected  in  this 
resolution  a  proposition  to  tax  the  slave  population  and  at  the 
same  time  exclude  it  from  representation,  and  the  State  of 
North  Carolina  expressed  the  opinion  of  the  South  that  unless 
a  three-fifths  representation  were  granted  the  South  for  her 
slaves  she  would  not  join  the  i)roposed  Confederation.  The 
slavery  question  was  thus  brought  to  an  issue  on  which  the  fate 
of  the  Constitution  hung.  Every  man  present  knew  that  the 
work  of  the  Convention  must  be  submitted  to  the  several 
States  for  ratification.  Rhode  Island,  of  course,  would  imt 
ratify  if  she  would  not  send  a  delegate  to  the  Convention. 
New  York  Avas  already  displeased  over  the  compromise  on 
representation,  and  had  left  the  Convention.  North  Carolina 
now  threatened  to  join  the  number  uf  opposing  States.  Cer- 
tainly all  this  o|)position  must  be  quieted  or  no  Constitution 
could  be  framed,  nor,  if  framed,  adopted.  A  compromise  on 
slave  I'epresentation  must  be  made.  There  were  six  Southern 
and  four  Northern  States  in  the  Convention.  If  the  South 
was  satisfied  the  North  should  be  satisfied     A  compromise 


132  THE  OHDIXANCE  OF  1787. 

■was  then  suggested — tliut  representation  should  he  according 
to  dh'ect  taxation,  and  both  representation  and  direct  taxation 
should  be  according  to  population.  Population  should  in- 
clude all  fi-ee  whites  and  three  fifths  of  the  slaves. 

The  second  compromise  was  ado})ted  by  the  committee, 
and  on  the  16th  of  July  both  compromises  on  slave  rep- 
resentation and  direct  taxation  were  reported  to  the  Conven- 
tion. Just  three  days  earlier  the  last  Congress  under  the 
Confederation,  in  session  in  New  York,  had  passed  the  ordi- 
nance of  1787,  forever  forbidding  slavery  north  of  the  river 
Ohio,  except  as  a  pu;ushment  for  crime.  Thus  within  one 
week,  and  almost  at  the  same  time,  the  question  on  which  the 
fate  of  the  Union  depended  in  1787,  and  on  which  three  quar- 
ters of  a  century  later  in  its  history  it  again  depended,  was  dis- 
cussed in  Congress  and  in  the  Convention.  The  report  of  the 
committee  brought  both  compromises,  on  representation  and 
slavery,  together,  and  the  vote  of  the  Convention  Avas  on  the 
whole  report.  The  States  divided  anew.  The  small  States 
— Connecticut,  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  and  Maryland — -voted 
for  the  report  because  it  gave  them  e(pial  rejircsentation  in 
the  Senate.  l\'iinsylvania  and  Virginia  joined  Scjuth  Caro- 
lina and  Geoi'gia  for  the  same  reason,  and  voted  against  the 
report.  "^'lie  vote  of  Massachusetts  was  lost  because  Gor- 
ham  and  King  Avould  not  consent  that  the  new  government 
should  encourage  or  be  founded  on  slavery.  'J"'he  fate  of  the 
two  compromises  depended  on  the  vote  of  North  Carolina. 
Nortli  Carolina  voted  //"',  and  tlui  report  })assed  by  five 
votes  to  four.  The  second  comin-oniisi'  was  made.  At  this 
lime  I  he  Convention  w:is  on  the  point-  of  disiMiption.  The 
large  States  Itegan  to   talk   of  a  coiiftMleration  of  their  own, 


THE  COMMITTEE  OF  FIVE.  133 

to  which  ultimately  the  small  States  would  he  forced  to  seek 
admission.  The  small  States  gave  no  sign  of  retreat  from 
the  position  they  had  gained,  and  the  factions  set  to  work  on 
the  details  of  the  distribution  of  powers  between  the  national 
government  and  the  States;  on  tlie  jurisdiction  of  the  Su- 
preme Court;  on  the  manner  of  appointing  its  judges;  on 
the  qualifications  for  congressmen,  for  the  President,  and 
for  judges,  and  on  the  method  of  ratifying  the  Constitution. 
Ten  days  more  had  passed,  and  on  the  26th  the  various  plans 
of  government  that  had  been  reported  were  given  to  a  grand 
committee  which  was  instructed  to  bring  in  a  Constitution. 
The  Convention  then  voted  to  adjourn  for  two  weeks. 

This  important  committee  consisted  of  Nathaniel  Gorham, 
Oliver  Ellsworth,  James  Wilson,  Edmund  Randolph,  and 
John  Rutledge.  When  the  6th  of  August  came  and  the  Con- 
vention re-assembled,  every  member  had  before  him  a  broad- 
side, neatly  printed  in  large  type,  of  a  draft  of  a  national 
Constitution.  It  differed  from  the  Constitution  to  which  we 
are  accustomed,  and  the  differences  show  how  the  draft  was 
afterward  amended.  Congress  Avas  to  choose  the  President 
for  a  term  of  seven  years,  and  he  could  never  be  re-elected. 
He  was  to  be  called  "His  Excellency."  He  might  be  im- 
peached by  the  House  of  Representatives,  but  his  trial  should 
be  before  the  Supreme  Court.  He  need  not  be  a  native 
American.  The  draft  said  nothing  of  a  Vice-President. 
Members  of  Congress  were  to  be  paid  by  the  States  that  sent 
them,  and  if  a  senator  wished  to  hold  any  office  under  the 
United  States  he  must  have  been  out  of  the  Senate  one  whole 
year.  Congress  could  emit  bills  of  credit,  could  choose  b}^ 
ballot  a  treasurer  of  the  United  States,  could  determine  the 


134  THEIR  RErORT  REVISED. 

qualifications  for  its  membership,  and  could  admit  new  States 
upon  a  two-thirds  vote  of  members  present.  Each  State 
should  choose  two  senators.  Disputes  between  States  respect- 
ing jurisdiction  or  territory  were  to  be  settled  by  the  Senate, 
or,  in  case  this  failed,  by  a  commission  chosen,  in  a  cumber- 
some manner,  by  the  Senate  and  the  disputing  States.  But 
much  of  tlie  Constitution  as  we  know  it  can  be  found  in  this 
draft  of  the  committee  of  five. 

As  soon  as  the  draft  was  before  the  Convention  the  process 
of  revision  began.  By  this  revision  the  Constitution  was 
made  to  comprise  its  present  provisions  and  to  take  some  por- 
tion of  its  present  form,  "The  Peoj^le  of  the  United  States 
of  America"  took  the  place  of  "AYe  the  people  of  the 
States."  The  title  "  His  Excellency  "  for  the  President  was 
dropped.  The  Congress  was  described  as  consisting  of  two 
branches,  the  lower  to  be  called  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, the  upper,  the  Senate.  Nearly  all  the  provisions  in 
the  Constitution,  as  we  know  them,  appeared  in  the  report 
of  tlie  committee  of  five.  The  j)owers  of  Congress  to  lay 
and  collect  taxes  and  to  regulate  commerce,  which  had  been 
in  dispute  for  ten  years,  wei'e  now  granted  without  oppo- 
sitioii,  for  every  man  in  the  Convention  knew  by  experience 
tli.il  a  national  legislature  without  those  supreme  powers 
\v(juld  be  no  stronger  than  the  Congress  then  in  session  in 
New  York.  Treaties  were  to  be  made,  and  embassadors  and 
judges  of  Ihe  Supreme  Court  were  to  be  appointed  by  the 
Situate. 

Anu^iulnu'iils  to  tlie  ])()wers  of  (longn^ss  were  at  once  i)ro- 
]»osed:  1o  dis])ose  oC  tht;  unappropri;it('d  piil)lic  lands;  to  insti- 
tute teniporai-y  gDvenuneiits  fitrnew  States;  to  grant  charters 


THE  OLD  ECONOMY  YERSim  THE  NEW.  135 

of  incorporation;  to  secure  copyrights  to  authors;  to  establisli 
a  university ;  to  encoui'age  the  advancement  of  useful  knowl- 
edge; to  fix  tlie  seat  of  government;  to  establish  seminaries 
of  learning;  to  grant  patents;  to  provide  for  executive  de- 
l^artments  of  war,  of  the  navy,  of  the  treasury,  of  home  affairs, 
of  foreign  affairs,  and  of  State;  to  secure  the  payment  of  the 
public  debt;  to  preserve  the  liberty  of  the  press;  to  prevent 
the  quai'tering  of  troops  in  any  house  in  time  of  j^eace  witli- 
out  the  owner's  consent ;  to  exclude  religious  qualifications 
for  office  in  the  new  government,  and  to  give  the  President 
an  advisory  council  of  seven. 

These  and  other  amendments  were  referred  to  the  com- 
mittee of  five.  But  tliere  were  two  sections  in  the  draft 
which  awakened  such  hostility  and  diversity  of  sentiment 
that  the  whole  report  was  endangered. 

One  of  these  sections  forbade  Congress  to  tax  any  article 
of  export  from  any  State  or  to  tax  or  to  prohibit  the  impor- 
tation of  slaves.  The  other  section  forbade  Congress  to  pass 
a  navigation  act.  To  organize  a  government  without  the 
power  to  tax  exports  was  an  innovation  in  political  history. 
Every  nation  of  the  world  from  time  immemorial  had  taxed 
the  products  of  its  soil  which  any  of  its  inhabitants  presumed 
to  send  away.  To  tax  exports  and  to  admit  imports  free  Avas 
a  maxim  in  the  old  economy.  Some  members  expostulated 
against  the  innovation.  The  Southern  delegates  feared  if  the 
general  government  was  forbidden  to  tax  exports  that  the 
States  would  tax  them,  and  thus  the  agricultural  States  would 
be  at  the  mercy  of  the  commercial  States.  And  only  two 
States,  Georgia  and  South  Carolina,  insisted  that  Congress 
should  be  prohtbited  from  taxing  the  importation  of  slaA^esj 


136  DTVIFHON  OX  SLAVERY. 

every  other  .State  desired  to  see  a  speedy  end  of  tlie  whole 
shave  traffic.  But  South  Carolina  and  Georgia  held  the  bal- 
ance of  power  on  any  final  vote  on  the  slave  question.  Their 
delegates  insisted  that  without  slave  labor  their  rice-swamps 
and  their  indigo-fields  would  be  abandoned,  their  business 
ruined,  and  their  States  made  bankrupt,  and  that  they  would 
never  confederate  if  Congress  Avas  empowered  to  tax  slaves 
or  to  prohibit  their  importation. 

Again  the  Convention  divided  on  the  slave  question.  Con- 
necticut joined  Georgia  and  North  Carolina  in  the  demand 
for  the  free  importation  of  slaves.  The  old  Confederation 
had  not  intermeddled  with  slavery;  Avhy  should  the  new? 
The  slave-pens  at  ]Srew2:)ort  were  a  source  of  wealth  as  well  as 
the  indigo-fields  of  Georgia  or  the  corn-fields  of  Pennsylvania. 
To  the  States,  and  to  the  States  alone,  the  control  of  slavery 
must  be  left,  for  they  knew  best  the  sources  of  their  wealth, 
and  their  wealth  w^  as  the  wealth  of  the  Union.  Quickly  the  op- 
2>onents  of  slavery  were  on  their  feet,  but  the  arguments  they 
presented  were  based  on  other  grounds  than  that  of  the  immo- 
rality of  the  slave-trade.  New  England  was  more  prosperous 
than  Georgia;  Georgia  had  slaves,  New  England  had  none, 
therefore  Georgia  w^as  less  prosperous  than  New  England  be- 
cause she  had  slaves.  Pennsylvania  was  a  land  of  thrift,  of 
rich  farms,  and  of  prosperous  boroughs;  Maryland  and  Yir- 
<rinia  wei-e  lands  of  desolation:  but  the  land  of  desolation  was 
the  land  of  slavery,  and  the  land  of  prosperity  was  the  land 
of  freedom.  But  there  w\as  not  a  State  represented  in  the 
Convention  in  which  slavery  was  not  lawful;  not  a  conununity 
in  America  without  its  slave,  save  in  the  disputed  land  called 
"N'crmonl  and  in  some  communities  of  Methodists  and  of  the 


DEBATE!^  ON  SLAVERY.  137 

Society  of  Friends.  A  sterner  law,  a  law  more  just  than  that 
of  men  or  any  law  which  men  might  frame,  the  law  of  frost 
and  snow,  had  driven  African  slavery  out  of  New  England  as 
it  had  not  driven  slavery  out  of  Virginia  and  the  Carolinas. 
Had  New  England  possessed  the  climate  of  South  Carolina, 
African  slavery  would  not  have  been  opposed  by  a  single 
delegate  from  the  North.  It  Avas  on  slavery  as  a  producer  of 
wealth  that  the  whole  debate  in  the  Convention  turned.  As 
a  producer  of  wealth  in  a  government  founded  on  wealth  and 
on  persons  slavery  became  a  jjolitical  factor.  As  a  political 
factor  it  had  already  dictated  the  second  compromise  in  the 
Convention,  and  as  a  wealth-producing  factor  it  now  dictated 
a  third  compromise.  The  States  of  Virginia  and  Maryland 
had  already  ceased  to  import  slaves.  But  over  the  mountains 
in  the  valley  of  the  Cumberland,  of  the  Kanawha,  and  the 
Ohio,  the  settlers  were  clamoring  for  slaves.  If  South  Caro- 
lina and  Georgia  were  permitted  to  import  slaves,  the  new 
States  of  the  West  would  be  organized  as  slave  States;  the 
institution  of  slave  labor  would  s})eedily  reduce  these  new 
regions  to  desolation,  and,  with  the  added  power  of  represen- 
tation based  on  all  free  whites  and  three  fifths  of  all  slaves, 
the  political  jDOwer  of  the  South  and  of  the  South-west  would 
overbalance  that  of  the  North.  The  princij)les  of  American 
free  institutions  would  be  corrupted  and  the  best  ends  of  gov- 
ernment defeated. 

To  any  suggestion  of  opposition  to  slaveiy  on  moral 
grounds  the  Southern  delegates  and  their  Northei-n  friends 
on  the  floor  replied  that  the  question  was  one  of  wealth  and 
politics,  not  of  religion  and  humanity.  The  question  was  a 
Union  with  slavery  or   no  Union   at  all.     The   crisis    in  the 


13S  A    COMPROMISE  POSSIBLE. 

making  of  tlie  Constitution  liad  corae.  South  Carolina  and 
Georgia  would  not  come  into  the  Union  if  the  importation 
of  slaves  "was  to  be  taxed;  some  of  the  Northern  States  in- 
timated that  they  would  not  come  into  the  Union  if  the 
importation  of  slaves  was  not  to  be  taxed.  A  third  compro- 
mise must  be  effected  or  no  Constitution  could  be  made.  To 
a  committee  of  five  both  sections  were  sent,  the  section  on 
taxation  on  importation  of  slaves,  and  the  provision  for  a 
navigation  act.  This  committee  at  once  discovered  that  the 
first  section  was  distasteful  to  the  South,  and  that  the  second 
section  was  distasteful  to  the  North.  A  compromise  was 
suggested  by  Gouverneur  Morris.  On  the  25th  of  August 
the  compromise  w\as  made.  The  East  consented  to  the  im- 
portation of  slaves  until  the  year  ISOO,  and  the  South  agreed 
to  give  Congress  power  to  pass  navigation  laws.  Upon  re- 
consideration the  South  demanded  a  longer  time,  and  1800 
was  changed  to  180S;  and  also,  upon  further  debate,  to  please 
the  Southern  members,  no  navigation  laws  could  l)e  passed 
except  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  Congress.  But  on  later  re- 
consideration the  clause  on  navigation  laws  was  modified, 
and  no  limitation  concerning  them  was  laid  on  Congress. 
The  third  and  last  great  compromise  of  the  Constitution  was 
thus  made. 

August  was  now  almost  ]tast.  Its  remaining  days  were 
spent  by  the  ConvcTition  in  i-cdiicing  the  draft  of  the  com- 
mittee of  five  to  the  form  of  the  Constitution  as  we  know  it, 
and  on  the  last  day  of  tlie  month  the  amended  draft  was 
sent  to  a  committee  of  clevt'n,  wlio  reported  from  time  to 
lime  till  till-  Klh  of  Scptembci',  wlicn  the  ]K'rf(M't('(l  draft  was 
gi\J'ii  over  Ijy  ballot   to   a  committee   <»n   arrangement   and 


FRANKLm  AS  PEA  CE-MAKER.  139 

style,  consisting  of  Johnson,  Hamilton,  Gouverneur  Morris, 
Madison,  and  King.  A  week  later  this  committee  brought 
in  their  report.  The  report  showed  the  graceful  and  elegant 
hand  of  Morris,  and  the  Constitution,  as  he  revised  it,  was 
ordered  to  be  engrossed.  Hamilton  had  written  the  pream- 
ble, and  it  was  prefixed  to  the  engrossed  Constitution  as  a 
general  introduction. 

The  Constitution  thus  made  pleased  no  member  in  all 
its  details,  and  numerous  criticisms  were  heard.  Some  said 
that  they  could  not  sign  it  because  a  bare  majority  of  Con- 
gress could  pass  a  navigation  act.  Elbridge  Gerry  named 
nine  defects  in  the  Constitution  which  would  hinder  him 
and  which  did  hinder  him  from  signing.  The  Convention 
seemed  on  the  point  of  slipping  away  froni  the  work  of  its 
own  hands  and  disowning  its  own  creation.  Franklin  saw 
the  danger,  and  he  sought  to  avoid  it.  He  prepared  on 
Sunday  a  characteristic  speech  to  read  to  the  Convention, 
but  when  the  Convention  assembled  on  the  following  day 
Franklin  was  too  feeble  to  read  his  speech,  and  his  colleague, 
James  Wilson,  read  it  for  him.  Perhaps  this  speech  gave 
us  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  "  I  confess,"  said 
the  aged  philosopher,  "that  there  are  several  pails  of  this 
Constitution  which  I  do  not  at  present  approve,  but  I  am 
not  sure  that  I  shall  never  approve  them;  for,  having  lived 
long,  I  have  experienced  many  instances  of  being  obliged  by 
better  information,  or  fuller  consideration,  to  change  opinions, 
even  on  important  subjects,  which  I  once  thought  right,  but 
found  to  be  otherwise.  It  is  therefore  that  the  older  I  grow 
the  raoi'c  apt  I  am  to  doubt  my  own  judgment  and  to  pay  more 
respect  to  the  judgment  of  others.     Most  men,  indeed,  as 


IW  HE  TELLS  A   STORY. 

well  us  most  sects  in  religion,  think  tlieniseh  es  in  possession 
of  all  truth,  and  that  whenever  others  differ  from  them  it  is 
so  far  error.  Steele,  a  Protestant,  in  a  dedication  tells  the 
Pope  that  the  only  difference  between  our  churches  in  their 
opinions  of  the  certainty  of  their  doctrines  is  '  the  Church 
of  Rome  is  infallible  and  the  Church  of  England  is  never  in 
the  wrong.'  But  though  many  private  persons  think  almost 
as  highly  of  their  own  infallibility  as  that  of  their  sect  few 
express  it  so  naturally  as  a  certain  French  lady  who  in  a  dis- 
pute with  her  sister  said:  'I  don't  know  how  it  happens, 
sister,  but  I  meet  with  nobody  but  myself  that  is  always  in 
tlie  right — il  n'y  a  que  moi  qui  a  toujours  raison.' 

"In  these  sentiments  I  agree  to  this  Constitution  with  all 
its  faults,  if  they  are  such;  because  I  think  a  general  gov- 
ernment necessary  for  ns,  and  there  is  no  form  of  govern- 
ment but  what  may  be  a  blessing  to  the  people  if  well  ad- 
ministercMl;  and  I  believe  further  that  this  is  likely  to  be 
well  administered  for  a  course  of  years,  and  can  only  end 
in  desj)olism,  as  other  forms  have  done  before  it,  Avhen  the 
people  shall  become  so  coiTUpted  as  to  need  despotic  gov- 
ernment, being  incapable  of  any  other.  I  doubt,  too,  whether 
any  other  Convention  we  can  obtain  may  be  able  to  make 
a  better  Constitution.  For  when  you  assemble  a  number  of 
men  to  have  the  advantage  of  their  joint  wisdom  you  in- 
evitably assemble  with  those  men  all  their  ])rt'Judices,  their 
passions,  their  errors  of  o2)inion,  their  local  interests,  and 
their  selfish  views.  From  such  an  assembly  can  a  perfect 
production  be  expected  ?  It  therefore  astonishes  me  to  find 
tliis  syslcin  approaching  so  near  to  jierfection  as  it  does;  and 
I  think   that   it   will   astonish  our  enemies,  who  are  waiting 


FliAXKLIiY'S  SrKEClL  141 

with  confidence  to  hear  that  our  councils  are  confouMiUil, 
like  those  of  the  builders  of  Babel,  and  that  our  States  aie 
on  the  point  of  scj)aration,  only  to  meet  hereafter  for  the 
purpose  of  cutting  one  another's  throats.  Thus  I  consent  to 
this  Constitution  because  I  expect  no  better,  and  because  I 
am  not  sure  that  it  is  not  the  best.  The  opinions  I  have  had 
of  its  errors  I  sacrifice  to  the  public  good.  I  have  never 
whispered  a  syllable  of  tlieni  abroad.  Within  these  walls 
they  were  born,  and  here  they  shall  die.  If  every  one  of  us 
in  returning  to  our  constituents  were  to  report  the  objections 
he  has  had  to  it,  and  endeavor  to  gain  })artisans  in  support 
of  them,  we  might  prevent  its  being  generally  received,  and 
thereby  lose  all  tlie  salutary  effects  and  great  advantages 
resulting  naturally  in  our  favor  among  foreign  nations,  as  well 
as  among  ourselves,  from  our  real  or  apparent  unanimity. 
Much  of  the  strength  and  efficiency  of  any  government  in 
procuring  and  securing  happiiiess  to  the  people  depends  on 
o[)inion — on  the  general  opinion  of  the  goodness  of  the  gov- 
ernment, as  well  as  of  the  wisdom  and  integrity  of  its  gov- 
ernors. I  hope,  therefore,  that  for  our  own  sakes  as  a  part 
of  the  people,  and  for  the  sake  of  j^osterity,  we  shall  act 
heartily  and  unanimously  in  recommending  this  Constitution 
(if  approved  by  Congress  and  confirmed  by  the  conventions) 
wherever  our  influence  may  extend,  and  turn  our  future 
thoughts  and  endeavors  to  the  means  of"  having  it  well  ad- 
ministered. On  the  whole  I  cannot  help  expressing  a  wish 
that  every  member  of  the  Convention  who  may  still  have  ob- 
jections to  it  would  with  me  on  this  occasion  doubt  a  little  of 
his  own  infallibility,  and,  to  make  manifest  our  unanimity, 
put  his  name  to  the  instrument," 


142  THE  MEMBERS  SIGN. 

Madison  tells  us  thai  Gouverneur  Morris,  in  order  tu  gain 
the  dissenting  members,  had  drawn  up  an  amltiguous  form  of 
suLscrijitioii,  and,  that  it  might  have  the  better  chance  of 
success,  had  put  it  into  the  hands  of  Dr.  Franklin,  It 
was  this  "convenient  form"  which  Franklin  now  moved: 
''  Done  in  Convention  by  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  States 
present,  the  l7th  of  September,  etc.  In  witness  whereof 
we  have  hereunto  subscribed  our  names." 

Before  Franklin's  resolution  was  put,  Gorham  asked  that 
the  ratio  of  representation  be  clianged  from  one  for  every 
forty  thousand  to  one  for  every  thirty  thousand  inhabitants. 
Gorhani's  motion  provoked  no  debate.  Washington  i)ut  the 
question  and  expressed  his  concurrence  and  hope  that  it  might 
be  carried.  This  was  done,  and  the  last  change  in  the  Con- 
stitution by  the  Convention  was  made.  Franklin's  speech 
carried  the  resolution  for  ratification,  and  all  the  States  pres- 
ent signed,  Washington,  as  President  of  the  Convention  and 
delegate  from  Virginia,  affixing  his  name  first.  The  twelve 
States  then  came  forward  in  their  geographical  order,  be- 
ginning with  New  Hampshire,  and  thirty-eight  delegates 
signed  their  names. 

The  signatures  were  attested  by  William  Jackson,  the 
secretary,  who  that  day  handed  over  to  Washington  the 
journal  aiul  the  pap(.'rs  of  tlie  Convention,  but  not  before  he 
Iiad  carefully  burned  the  precious  broadsheets,  the  copies  of 
resolutions,  the  iu)tes,  the  (piestions,  the  letters,  and  the  briefs 
of  remarks  which  he  gathered  from  the  floor,  the  desks  of 
niciiihci's,  and  Iiis  own  table.  Wliat  would  we  not  now  give 
for  I  hos(!  j'ccoi'ds  V  Si.xiccii  members  refused  to  sign  and 
kept  out  of  the  room.     Hamilton  alone  signed  for  New  York. 


THE  CONSTITUTION  SENT  TO  CONGRESS.  143 

As  one  by  one  delegates  from  all  the  States  affixed  their 
names  and  the  Southern  members  filed  to  the  secretary's 
desk,  Franklin,  beaming  with  hiippiness  and  hope,  caught 
sight  of  a  sun  rudely  cut  on  the  back  of  Washington's  chair, 
lie  whispered  to  a  delegate  near  him  that  painters  had  found 
it  difficult  to  distinguish  a  rising  from  a  setting  sun.  "I 
have  often  and  often  in  the  course  of  the  session,"  said  he, 
"  amid  the  solicitude  of  my  hopes  and  fears  as  to  its  issue, 
looked  at  that  behind  the  President  Avithout  being  able  to  tell 
whether  it  was  rising  or  setting.  But  now  at  length  I  know 
that  it  is  a  rising,  and  not  a  setting,  sun." 

When  the  signing  was  over  there  was  a  hush  in  the  Con- 
vention. The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  made. 
The  Convention  continued  in  session  till  evening  came;  a  few 
words  were  spoken  in  farewell,  and  then  it  adjourned,  never 
to  meet  again. 

On  the  following  morning  Major  Jackson,  the  secretary, 
set  out  for  New  York  to  lay  before  Congress  the  new  Consti- 
tution, the  resolutions  of  the  Convention,  and  Washington's 
letter.  But  before  he  had  been  three  hours  on  his  Avay  the 
Constitution  Avas  read  to  the  legislature  of  Pennsylvania. 
It  appeared  in  the  Philadelphia  morning  papers,  the  Gazetteer, 
the  Pachet,  and  the  Journal,  and  in  broadsides  hastily 
printed.  Two  days  later  it  was  laid  before  Congress,  and  on 
the  21st  it  was  published  in  the  New  York  papers. 

To  Madison's  notes  we  are  indebted  for  a  knowledge  of  the 
debates  in  the  Convention.  The  secretary's  almost  colorless 
journal  gives  the  record  of  committees  and  of  votes.  Yates's 
and  Lansing's  notes  contribute  a  slight  information  of  pro- 
ceedings up  to  the  time  when  they  abruptly  left,  early  in 


144  WHENCE  CAME  THE  CuXSnTUTION? 

July.  Luther  Mailings  2'rue  In/or iJiat ion  gives  us  insight 
into  tlie  opinions  of  the  opponents  of  the  Constitution.  An 
entry  hy  Franklin  in  liis  diary  fixes  the  pLace  of  meeting  of 
Convention.  Outside  of  this  meager  material*  we  have 
nothing  that  aids  us  essentially  in  gaining  any  knowledge  of 
how  the  Constitution  was  made. 

The  Constitution  was  not  framed  at  a  single  stroke.  It  was 
the  result  of  long  political  experience  in  America.  The  mera- 
hers  of  tlie  Convention  had  constantly  in  mind  the  provisions 
in  the  State  constitutions  and  the  civil  institutions  with 
which  they  were  familiar. 

The  division  of  the  national  government  into  three  de- 
partments— executive,  legislative,  and  judiciary — was  com- 
mon to  that  in  all  the  States.  But  the  separation  of 
these  powers  in  the  Constitution  is  more  complete  than  that 
of  any  of  the  States.  To  the  people  of  Pennsylvania,  Dela- 
Avare,  South  Carolina,  and  New  Ham])shire  the  title  of  the 
executive,  "  President,"  was  familiar,  and  it  was  the  title  of 
the  presiding  officer  in  the  Congress  of  the  Confederation. 
The  people  were  also  familiar  with  the  term  Congress  as 
descriptive  of  a  national  legislature.  The  title  "Senate" 
for  the  u]H)er  house,  representing  the  States,  was  familiar  to 
the  people  of  Virginia,  Maryland,  North  Carolina,  New 
York,  Massachusetts,  New  ITampshire,  Connecticut,  and 
]{ho(lc  Island;  and  the  title  for  the  low  I'r  house,  "the  House 
of  liepicscntat  i\cs,"  had  hccn  long  used  in  the  four  New 
England  Slates,  'i'liat  tlie  IV'deral  judges  should  be  a})- 
|M)inted  l»y  the  I'lcsident,  hy  and  with  the  consent  of  the 
Senate,  foUnwcil  ;i  jn-cccdcnt   faniiliar  to  the  peo])le  of  all  the 

*Sou  prffueo  lu  IJaiRTufl's  lliKlonj  nf  Uic  Conatitutioii,  vul.  i,  I'llilicm  1882. 


WHENCE  CAME  THE  CoXST/TUTJoX?  145 

States.  The-two  yeur.s'  Utiu  uf  office  for  hk'hiIkts  of  the 
House  of  Ke}»resentatives  was  a  comj)roniise  between  the 
various  terms  suggested  by  the  State  constitutions  ;  the  sys- 
tem by  which  one  third  of  the  national  Senate  was  to  retire 
every  two  years  prevailed  in  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Vir- 
ginia, and  Delaware.  New  York  gave  the  precedent  for  a 
census;  the  State  of  Massachusetts  that  for  the  President's 
message  and  his  veto  power.  Perhai)s  it  was  from  Virginia 
and  Massachusetts  that  the  two  methods  tif  representation 
in  Congress  wx're  taken — State  representation  in  the  Senate 
and  popular  representation  in  the  House.  The  ])rovision 
giving  to  the  Hotise  of  Representatives  the  sole  power  to 
originate  money  bills  may  be  found,  in  language  almost  iden- 
tical with  that  of  the  national  Constitution,  in  the  constitutions 
of  Massachusetts  and  New  Hampshire.  The  powers  of  Con- 
gress were  powers  suggested  by  State  constitutions,  or  by 
the  conditions  which  made  a  national  Constitution  necessary. 
The  powers  given  to  the  President  are  analogous  to  powers 
granted  to  executives  in  the  States.  His  command  of  the 
army  and  the  navy  had  precedent  in  all  the  States  except 
Rhode  Island,  and  his  pardoning  power  in  all  the  States 
except  Rhode  Island  and  Connecticut.  His  power  to  nom- 
inate civil  and  military  officers,  subject  to  the  action  of  the 
Senate,  followed  the  constitution  of  New  York,  and  his 
power  to  fill  vacancies  the  constitution  of  North  Carolina. 
The  office  of  Vice-President  found  precedent  in  the  deputy 
governor  or  lieutenant-governor  of  some  States,  as  Dela- 
ware, Pennsylvania,  New  Hampshire,  South  Carolina,  and 
especially  New  York,  where  the  lieutenfint-governor  pre- 
sided in  the  State  Senate,  having  no  vote  unless  in  case  of  a 
10 


146  NEW  FEA  TUBES  INTR 01) UCED. 

lie.  North  Carolina  gave  a  precedent  for  tlie  succession  of 
the  Vice-President  to  the  office  of  President.  The  method  of 
electing  the  President  by  electors  specially  chosen  for  that 
purpose  had  its  original  in  Marj^land,  where  the  qualified 
voters  chose  "  two  persons  for  their  respective  counties  to 
be  electors  of  the  Senate  "  and  "  the  electors  of  the  Senate  " 
chose  "  by  ballot,  either  out  of  their  own  body  or  the  body 
of  the  people  at  large,  fifteen  senators."  Upon  critical 
analysis  and  comparison  the  State  constitutions  in  force  in 
1787  seem  to  contain  precedents  for  nearly  all  of  tlie  admin- 
istrative provisions  of  the  national  Constitution,  But  there 
were  new  and  distinguishing  features  in  the  work  of  the  Con- 
vention. The  Constitution  was  national  in  character  and  was 
to  be  ordained  and  established  by  the  people  of  the  United 
States.  The  Constitution  and  the  laws  and  treaties  made  in 
accordance  with  it  was  to  be  the  supreme  law  of  the  land. 
United  States  citizenship,  distinct  from  State  citizenship, 
was  created,  and  it  was  free  from  all  those  religious  and  pro]3- 
erty  qualifications  which  limited  citizenship  in  tlie  States,  a 
liberal  precedent,  Avhich  all  State  constitutions,  save  that  of 
Delaware,  have  since  followed.  The  authority  of  the  United 
States  over  individuals  was  made  direct  and  wholly  inde- 
])eii(lent  of  tlie  States.  A  national  Su})reme  Court  was  es- 
tal)lislu'd,  tlie  powers  of  the  States  were  limited,  new  States 
and  territoi-ies  could  be  formed,  and  the  power  to  levy  taxes 
and  to  regulate  tra<le  was  given  to  Congress.  The  authority 
to  jircn'ide  for  the  common  defense,  to  ]>romote  ihe  general 
welfare,  and  to  make  all  laws  necessary  and  proper  for  car- 
rying into  execufion  all  powers  Avas  vested  by  the  Constitu- 
tion in  tlie  Lcovei'miieiit  of  the  United  States. 


THE  NATION'S  NEW  CAREER.  147 

By  these  liberal  provisi(;iis  the  United  States  was  freed 
from  tlie  withering  and  destructive  limitations  to  which  the 
Confederation  had  been  subjected,  and  the  nation  entered  at 
once  upon  a  career  of  prosperity  unparalleled  in  history, 
IJut  before  this  career  was  begun  the  Constitution  submitted 
to  Congress  by  the  Convention  had  to  go  to  the  people  of  the 
United  States  for  ratitication. 


148  OPPOSITION  IN  CONGRESS. 


CHAPTER     IV. 

HOW  THE  COXSTITUTIOX  BECAME  THE  SUPREME  LAW  OF  THE 

LAND. 

1787-1870. 

The  Constitution  was  scarcely  laid  before  Congress  when 
opposition  to  it  began  there.  Kor  did  those  members  of  the 
Convention  who  were  also  members  of  Congress,  and  who 
now  hastened  back  to  their  seats,  seem  able  to  stem  the  ris- 
ing flood  of  opposition.  Every  delegate  in  Congress  from 
New  York  was  opposed  to  the  Constitution,  and  there  ap- 
})eared  a  sufticient  number  from  other  States  to.  make  the 
adojition  of  the  New  Plan  doubtful. 

■^riiat  the  Constitution  was  a  new  plan  and  was  intended 
to  supplant  the  Confederation  was  reason  enough  to  many 
members  of  Congress  for  their  opposition.  No  government 
on  earth  commits  suicide  with  pleasure.  To  this  form  of 
opposition  the  friends  of  the  Xew  Plan  replied  that  Congress 
had  consented  to  tlu'  calling  of  the  Convention,  and  it  could 
just  as  appropriately  consent  to  tlie  work  of  the  Convention. 
But  Richard  Henry  Lee,  the  leader  of  the  opposition,  saw  no 
n'lc'\aiicy  in  such  an  ar^iiniciit,  and  on  the  L'Oth  of  8t'})tc'm- 
bcr  he  Ijrought  in  a  long  list  of  jiroposcd  amendments  and  a 
bill  of  i-ights  to  correct  those  defects  which  he  ])ointed  out 
in  the  inst  i-iuncnf .  He  specially  oIijccti'(l  to  tht>  pi-ovision 
for  a  \'ir(-l*rcsi<l('nt;   to   the   liinitcil   inunbcr  of  incnd>ci's  in 


FEDERALISTS  AND  ANTI-FEDERALISTS.  149 

the  lower  liuuse  wliicli  the  Convention  had  fixed;  to  the 
(Linger  that  a  niere  majority  in  Congress  sliould  have  power 
to  regulate  commerce,  and  to  the  absence  of  a  provision  for 
a  council  of  state  to  assist  the  President.  But  to  consider 
these  objections  was  to  thresh  old  straw  again.  Congress  re- 
fused to  consider  pro])osed  changes  in  the  new  Constitution, 
and  on  the  27th  it  was  moved  to  send  the  Constitution  to  the 
executives  of  the  States,  by  whom  it  should  be  submitted  to 
the  State  legislatures.  To  submit  the  Constitution  to  its 
fate  in  the  State  legislatures  was  merely  to  anticipate  and 
court  defeat  in  thirteen  congresses,  and  the  motion  was 
amended  by  the  friends  of  the  New  Plan  who  added  the 
words,  "  in  order  to  be  by  them  submitted  to  a  convention  of 
delegates  to  be  chosen  agreeably  to  the  said  resolution  of  the 
Convention;"  and  the  amended  motion  prevailed. 

It  was  clear  that  there  were  two  parties  in  Congress  and 
that  there  would  be  two  ])arties  in  all  the  States,  a  party  for 
the  Constitution  and  a  party  against  the  Constitution.  The 
names  of  these  parties,  the  first  political  parties  in  our  na- 
tional history,  Avere  soon  on  every  tongue.  Federalists  and 
Anti-Federalists.  It  was  also  equally  clear  that  the  two 
parties  were  evenly  matched  in  Congress,  and  that  whatever 
was  done  there  with  the  Constitution  would  be  done  by  com- 
promise. 

On  the  28th  such  a  compromise  was  made;  the  Federal- 
ists agreed  that  Congress  should  merely  subinit  the  Constitu- 
tion to  the  States,  and  give  no  sign  of  approval  or  of  disap- 
proval of  it;  the  Anti-Federalists,  relying  on  the  defeat  of 
the  Constitution  in  tlie  States,  agreed  that  the  submission  to 
the  States  should  be  by  the  unanimous  vote  of  Congress. 


150  THE  CONSTITUTION  IN  PENNRYLVANTA. 

By  this  colorless  action  the  Constitution,  the  resolution  of  the 
Convention,  and  the  letter  of  Washington  were  simply  sent 
to  the  State  executives  by  Congress  without  comment,  and 
the  fate  of  the  nation  v.'as  thus  placed  in  othei-  hands. 

The  Pennsylvania  legislature  was  the  first  to  act.  Eleven 
days  after  the  Convention  which  had  framed  the  Constitution 
adjourned  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly  called  a  Convention 
of  the  people  of  that  Commonwealth  to  take  into  consider- 
ation the  proposed  Constitution  for  the  people  of  the  United 
States.  In  Pennsylvania  the  political  feeling  was  divided. 
Philadelphia,  with  its  immediate  environs,  was  Federal  in  its 
sympathies;  the  rural  districts  were  generally  Anti-Federal. 
In  the  cit}'"  the  evils  under  Avhich  America  Avas  suffering 
affected  the  great  merchants  and  the  general  material  wel- 
fare of  the  city,  but  in  the  country  less  interest  Avas  taken 
in  the  movement  for  a  better  national  government.  The 
Anti-Federalists  quickly  laid  hold  of  every  element  of  strength 
for  their  cause.  They  emphasized  the  difference  between 
the  CV)nstitution  of  the  State  and  the  proposed  Constitution. 
The  State  legislature  consisted  of  a  single  house,  which  chose 
the  president  of  the  Commonwealth.  To  approve  of  the  new 
Constitution,  which  provided  for  two  chambers  in  its  legis- 
lature and  the  election  of  the  President  by  specially  chosen 
presidential  electors,  was  to  condemn  their  own  State  consti- 
tution. l>ut  the  Federalists  in  the  Pennsylvania  legislature 
li.nl  already  taken  llie  initiative.  '^Phe  House  was  about  to 
adjourn  sine  die,  an<l  its  successor  would  be  elected  on  the 
llrst  'I'liesday  of  the  next  November.  The  Aut i-Fed(!ralists 
ex)»eeted  to  win  in  the  intervening  cani))aign  and  to  elect 
enough  mendters  to  prevent  calling  a  Convention,  and  in  that 


THE  SERGEANT- AT. ARMS  DEFIED.  151 

way  to  defeat  the  Constitution.  l]ut  tliey  were  out-maneu- 
vered. George  Clymer,  a  meniLer  of  the  House,  a  signer  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence,  came  directly  from  the 
Convention,  whei'c,  less  than  a  fortnight  before,  he  had  suh- 
scribed  his  name  to  the  Constitution.  He  knew  the  plan  of 
the  opposition,  and  he  proceeded  to  defeat  it  by  rising  in  hin 
place  on  the  28th  of  September  and  moving  that  the  legisla- 
ture call  a  Convention.  The  Anti-Federalists  were  enraged. 
Clymer,  they  said,  was  out  of  order,  for  Congress  had  not  yet 
officially  laid  the  Constitution  before  them.  Moreover,  such 
a  motion  required  notice  and  three  several  readings  before 
by  parliamentary  rules  it  could  be  entertained.  To  this  the 
Federalists  replied  by  calling  for  the  question;  it  was  put 
and  passed  by  a  vote  of  forty-three  to  nineteen.  The  House 
then  adjourned  for  dinner,  but  the  nineteen  adjourned  to  hold 
an  indignation  meeting,  where  it  was  voted  that  they  would 
stay  away  from  the  Assembly  and  so  prevent  all  proceedings. 
Without  the  nineteen  the  House  lacked  two  of  a  quorum, 
and  when  at  four  o'clock  the  Housifr  was  called  to  order  but 
foi"ty-five  members  answered  to  their  names.  This  was  not 
a  quorum,  and  the  sergeant-at-arms  was  instructed  to  find  the 
absent  members  and  to  bring  them  to  the  bar  of  the  House. 
But  the  nineteen  defied  the  sergeant-at-arms;  he  returned 
alone,  and  the  Assembly  stood  adjourned  till  next  morning. 
The  aflair  was  the  talk  of  the  town.  The  coffee-houses  were 
full  of  excited  men,  and  the  nineteen  were  the  olijects  of  pop- 
ular hatred.  By  the  time  of  assembling  the  Federalists  had 
acted.  The  lodgings  of  t  wo  of  the  obstructionists  were  forced ; 
they  were  boldly  seized;  they  were  dragged  to  the  State  House ; 
they  were  held   fast   in   their  seats;  a  quorum  was  counted, 


152  THE  CAMPAIGX  ly  rENNSYLVAmA. 

fiiul  an  act  was  passed  calling  a  State  Convention  for  the 
20th  of  November.  Then  the  maddened  and  cnrsing  ob- 
structionists were  released  from  their  seats;  but  the  plan  of 
the  obstructionists  had  niiseral)ly  failed. 

The  campaign  in  Pennsylvania,  begun  in  the  legislature 
Avith  such  bitterness,  was  carried  on  over  the  State  in  the 
same  spirit.  The  printers  could  scarcely  supplj^the  pamphlets, 
the  caricatures,  the  doggerel  verse,  the  broadsides  called  for 
by  party  virulence  and  activity.  Centinel,  Plain  Truth,  Cin- 
cinnatus,  and  Cato  edified  the  public  with  their  ceaseless 
pens.  Let  well  enough  alone,  was  the  burden  of  one  argu- 
ment. I'he  Confederation  is  well  enough.  It  has  managed 
(he  -war  and  freed  the  country.  Nearly  all  the  evils  com- 
plained of  by  the  Federalists  are  due  to  extravagance 
among  the  people.  And  this  secret  Convention,  was  it  not 
])lainly  an  odious  consi)iracy  against  the  liberties  of  the  coun- 
try ?  Certainly  there  had  not  be(!n  much  agreement  among 
the  members;  some  had  gone  home  angry;  others  had  refused 
to  sign,  and  those  who  had  gone  home  or  liad  refused  to  sign 
were  just  as  capable  of  judging  what  was  for  the  welfare  of 
tlu!  country  as  others  who  wow  boasted  of  remaining  and 
siirninir  the  document.  Franklin  was  an  old  dotard;  AVash- 
ington  a  Tool;  ilaniilloii  and  Madison  weri'  boys;  and  this 
James  W'ilson  was  only  a  shai'i*  Scotch  lawyer,  an  aristocrat, 
I  lie   rich   man"'s  friend. 

To  aid  the  ojiposil Ion  in  I*ennsyl\ania,  Richard  Henry  Lee 
wrote  his  Letters  from  <i  Jb\deral  Farmer  \\\\A  (housands  of 
copies  wei'e  s(%attered  ihi-oughout  the  Slale.  Tlu;  Farmer 
admitted  (hat  a  reforiiial  loii  was  iici'ded  in  1  lie  Coiifederadon, 
l»ii(,   aris(,ocraey   and   icnl  laji/al  ion,  wliieli    eliaracl  ei'i/.e<l    this 


BELA  WARE,  PENNSYL  VANIA,  NE  W  JERSEY  RA  TIFY.     158 

New  Plan,  were  not  the  refoi'm  needed.  And  Lee  proceeded 
to  lay  down  the  doctrines  of  State  rights,  Wilson  replied 
in  a  speech  delivered  in  Philadelphia,  on  the  24th  of  Novem- 
ber, which  remains,  j)robably,  tlie  ablest  exposition  and  vin- 
dication of  the  Constitution  made  in  a  single  speech  by 
any  man  of  that  day.  He  reviewed  the  Constitution  in  a 
masterly  way,  and  decided  its  fate  in  the  eastern  part  of  the 
State.  But  the  Anti-Federalists  from  over  the  mountains 
were  not  to  be  Avon  by  fine  speeches  merely.  Public  opinion 
elsewhere  in  America  was  rapidly  forming,  and  Wilson's  speech 
crystallized  public  opinion  in  Pennsylvania.  The  Pemisyl- 
vania  Convention  was  stirred  by  the  news  that  on  the  Gth 
day  of  December  Delaware  had  unanimously  ratified  the 
Constitution.  There  were  illuminations  in  Philadelpliia  over 
this  event  ;  opposition  to  the  Constitution  gave  way,  and  six- 
days  later  Pennsylvania  ratified  by  a  vote  of  forty-six  to 
twenty-three.  Then  the  city  again  gave  itself  up  to  dem- 
onstrations of  joy.  At  Trenton,  on  the  18th  of  the  month, 
after  a  week's  session,  the  New  Jersey  Convention  adopted 
the  Constitution  unanimously.  Within  three  weeks  three 
States  had  ratified,  and  two  of  these  were  States  which  had 
threatened  to  withdraw  from  the  Federal  Convention  at  one 
time,  till  the  first  compromise  on  representation  in  the 
national  legislature  was  agreed  to.  But  as  the  news  traveled 
westward  through  Pennsylvania  it  provoked  occasional  out- 
bursts of  violence.  Federalists  were  in  some  places,  as  in 
Carlisle,  handled  somewhat  roughly,  and  the  prominent  lead- 
ers, AVilson  and  Clymer,  of  this  party  were  burned  in  effigy. 
As  the  compromise  on  representation  broke  the  force  of 
much  expected   opposition   in  the  small  States  of   the  North 


134  THE  COXSTITUTION  LV  MASS  A  CHUSETTS. 

the  compromise  on  slavery  worked  favorably  for  the  Consti- 
tution in  the  South.  On  January  2d,  Georgia  ratified  unani- 
mously, and  on  the  9th  Connecticut,  in  Convention  hut  five 
days,  ratified  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  to 
forty. 

To  Massachusetts  tlie  hope  of  the  opposition  now  turned, 
and  with  great  assurance.  That  State  had  assembled  in 
Convention  at  Boston,  on  the  9th  of  January.  Affairs  in 
^Massachusetts  resembled  affairs  in  Pennsylvania.  The  east- 
ern part  of  the  State,  Boston  and  the  neighl)oring  towns, 
were  mainly  Federal,  but  the  central  and  western  towns  wei-e 
decidedly  Anti-Federal.  There  Shay's  Rebellion  had  raged, 
and  the  malcontents  and  their  sympathizers  were  Anti- 
Fedei'alists.  Maine  "was  then  a  district  and  belonged  to 
Massachusetts,  and  its  people,  desirous  of  having  their  own 
State  government,  and  fearing  if  the  Constitution  was  adopted 
that  their  desires  would  be  in  vain,  opposed  ratification. 
Massachusetts  was  the  home  of  local  independence  and  self- 
government,  and  the  town-meeting  was  the  vital  element  in 
its  civil  life.  Thgre  was,  therefore,  a  general  feeling  against 
delegating  jjowers  of  government  to  a  central  authority. 
The  towns  were  jealous  of  the  General  Court  of  the  ^tate, 
and  would  be  more  jealous  of  a  national  legislature.  To 
delegate  such  ])owers  to  Congress  as  some  said  were  dele- 
gated by  this  new  Constitution  was  to  encourage  des])()tism. 
At  least  some  men  feared  so,  and  among  those  who  feared 
was  Samuel  Adams,  the  most  influential  man  in  the  Com- 
iiKiiiw calth.  Elbridge  Gerry  liad  refused  lo  give  the  Con- 
stitution his  siguatui'c.  AVhcii  such  men  as  Samuel  iVdanis 
and  .Iiiliii  llaiicdck   :ind  KIbridge  (Jerry  doubted,  other  nu.'U 


CHARACTER  OF  THE  COyVENTIOX.  155 

should  not  I'lisli  liu.^Llly  to  conclusions.  The  Anti-Federalists 
were  encouraged  by  the  promise  of  the  issue  in  Massachu- 
setts, and  the  delegates  sent  up  from  the  inland  towns  still 
more  encouraged  them.  But  fromtiie  sea-coast  towns  nearly 
all  the  delegates  were  favorable  to  the  New  I 'Ian.  Adams 
liimself  was  aware  that  the  two  parties  represented  very  dif- 
ferent interests  in  the  Commonwealth.  The  Federalists  in- 
cluded the  delegates  who  desired  a  restoration  of  commerce, 
a  revival  of  business,  and  the  regulation  of  trade  by  the 
national  legislature. 

On  the  9th  of  the  month  the  delegates,  three  hundi'ed  and 
fifty-five  in  number,  constituting  the  largest  Convention  that 
was  called  in  any  State,  entered  upon  the  work  before  them. 
There  sat  in  the  president's  chair  Governor  Hancock,  the  rich- 
est man  in  the  State,  clad  in  velvet  and  fine  laces.  There  sat 
King  and  Gorham  and  Strong,  who  had  helped  to  make  the 
New  Plan.  There  sat  Parsons,  soon  to  be  known  as  a  great 
lawyer,  and  E'isher  Ames,  soon  to  be  known  as  a  great  orator. 
Four  and  twenty  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  learned  men,  repre- 
senting various  denominations  in  the  State,  many  }tlain  farm- 
ers with  practical  New  England  wisdom,  and  some  eighteen 
men  from  the  western  towns,  who  had  marched  under  the  rebel 
Daniel  Shay,  completed  the  membei'ship.  So  large  a  Conven- 
tion represented  the  various  thought  of  the  people  of  the  State, 
Ever}'^  man  present  was  familiar  with  that  parliamentaiy  pro- 
cedure which  for  a  century  and  a  half  had  been  observed  in 
the  town-meetings;  and  with  characteristic  thoroughness  the 
Convention  took  up  the  new  Constitution  clause  by  clause. 
But  before  the  debate  began  the  Convention  availed  itself 
of  the  experience  of  Elbridge  Gerry,    who  Lad    not   been 


156  rARTIES  IX  THE  COXVENTIOX. 

chosen  one  of  its  members.  It  was  ordered  that  a  coiumittee 
of  tlu'ee  wait  ujjon  him  and  request  liim  to  take  a  seat  in  tlie 
Convention  to  answer  any  questions  of  fact  from  time  to 
time  that  the  Convention  might  ask  respecting  the  passing 
of  the  Constitution.  The  searching  test  to  which  each  pro- 
vision of  tlie  Constitution  was  put  is  plainly  shown  in  tlie 
recoi-d  of  the  debates.  The  delegates  spoke  often  and  much. 
Many  delegates  feared  that  the  2)Owers  of  Congress  were 
too  great  for  the  safety  of  the  peojile.  Unrestricted  control 
of  a  district  ten  miles  square  for  the  federal  city  was  an  in- 
centive to  tyranny.  There  was  great  danger,  too,  in  making 
the  President  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  and  navy. 
What  prevented  the  establishment  of  a  military  dictator- 
ship? Nor  did  the  Constitution  recognize  tlie  existence  of 
God,  nor  had  it  religious  or  property  tests  for  its  officers. 
But  not  one  clergyman  in  the  Convention  objected  to  it  on 
either  of  tliese  grounds.  The  Convention  was  composed  of 
two  classes,  the  country  members  and  the  city  meml^ers;  or, 
by  another  division,  the  lawyers,  judges,  and  the  rich  con- 
stituting one  class,  and  tlie  rough,  sun-tanned,  hard-handed 
farmers  constituting  another.  Because  the  ricli  and  tlic  leai'ued 
and  tlie  aristocratic  members  favored  the  Const ilution,  if 
for  no  other  reason,  tlie  farmers  opposed  it,  and  it  is  now 
evident  tliat  the  vote  of  Massachusetts  on  the  Constituliun 
was  the  vote  of  class  against  class  in  llic  Coniinonwealtli,  (he 
Constitution  being  tlie  subject  in  conli-oversy  for  the  time 
being.  Aware  of  the  preponderance  of  numbers  on  tlie  one  side 
and  of  great  names  on  the  olbef,  the  Federalists  Ix'gan  to  fear 
t,o  put  llic  (^pieslion  of  rat ilicat ion.  'I'lie  i'ariners  were  Anti- 
I*'edei:il,  and  many  wavering  deh'gates  weri;  rea<ly  to  join  the 


PAUL  REVERE  WIXS  JOHN  ADAMS.  157 

farmers  in  order  to  gain  tlieir  political  su2)port  in  State  af- 
fairs. Each  party  accused  the  other  of  bribery.  The  Con- 
vention was  stirred  to  its  center.  At  last  that  was  discovered 
which  eveiy  body  had  long  known,  that  one  man's  opinion 
would  decide  the  vote  of  the  Convention,  and  that  one  man 
was  Samuel  Adams.  He  had  came  up  to  the  Convention  an 
opponent  of  the  Constitution.  This  was  generally  known. 
But  it  was  also  known  that  he  had  not  fully  made  up  his 
mind  to  vote  against  ratification.  Each  party  courted  him, 
but  it  was  the  Federalists  who  succeeded  in  capturing  him, 
and  in  this  Avay:  At  the  Green  Dragon  Tavern  a  caucus  of 
friends  of  the  Constitution  was  held;  resolutions  in  support 
of  it  were  passed,  and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  present 
these  resolutions  to  Adams.  The  })lan  had  been  worked  out 
by  the  Federal  bodies  with  the  help  of  a  great  number  of 
mechanics  of  Boston,  to  whose  general  interests  Adams  had 
always  been  deeply  devoted.  At  the  head  of  the  committee 
was  Paul  Revere,  whose  name  still  stirs  patriotic  memories. 
Adams  received  the  paper,  read  it,  and  inquired: 

"  How  many  mechanics  wore  at  the  Green  Dragon  when 
these  resolutions  passed  ?  " 

"More,  sir,  than  the  Green  Dragon  could  hold,"  answered 
Revere. 

"  And  where  were  the  rest,  Mr.  Revere  ?  " 

"  In  the  street,  sir," 

"  And  how  many  were  in  the  street  ?  " 

"  ?t[<)re,  sir,  than  there  are  stars  in  the  sky." 

The  Federal  plan  worked.  Adams,  like  Lincoln,  had  abid- 
ing faith  in  tlie  people.  He  changed  his  opinions  and  fav- 
ored ratification.   When,  in  the  debate  on  the  two-years' term 


158  MA SSA  CHUSETTS  RA  TIFIES. 

of  membeisliip  of  the  House  of  Representatives  Adams  asked 
Caleb  Strong  why  the  Convention  made  the  term  so  long,  as 
the  election  to  the  lower  house  in  Massachusetts  was  annual, 
Strong  replied  that  the  term  was  a  compromise.  Adams 
said,  "I  am  satisfied."  A  Federalist  sitting  near  ]Mr. 
Adams  said:  "Will  Mr.  Adams  kindly  say  that  again?"  "I 
am  satisfied,"  he  re^Jeated;  and  no  further  objection  on  that 
clause  was  made.  AVhen  it  was  known  that  Adams  favored 
the  Constitution  the  Federalists  felt  safe.  On  the  (3th  of 
February  the  vote  was  taken;  it  stood  one  hundred  and 
eighty-seven  to  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight  in  favor  of  rat- 
ification. 

Then  Boston  took  up  the  spirit  of  that  vote:  bonfires  were 
made,  streets  illuminated,  bells  rung,  toasts  drunk,  and  gen- 
eral joy  prevailed;  and  the  street  on  which  stood  the  meet- 
ing-house in  which  the  Convention  had  assembled  was  OJi  that 
day  renamed,  and  has  ever  since  been  called  Federal  Street. 
But  before  the  vote  Avas  taken  ten  amendments  were  pro- 
posed to  the  Constitution,  and  w4th  these  suggested  amend- 
ments the  Constitution  stood  ratified.  Massachusetts  Avas 
thus  the  sixth  State  to  ratify.  Her  action  was  not  hastened 
by  news  from  other  States  that  had  ratified,  for  there  was  no 
news.  The  mails  for  weeks,  between  Philadelphia  and  New 
York  and  Boston,  had  been  interrupted.  The  Anti-Federal- 
ists accused  their  opponents  of  fraud  and  of  sto])ping  the 
mails.  Bii(,  ihc  condition  of  the  roads,  the  inclemency  of  the 
weather,  the  indifference  of  the  post-boys,  and  the  imperfect 
]»rovision  for  carrying  newspapers  long  distances  were  the 
1  rnc  e\]iIanatioii. 

Although  two  thirds  of  the  recpiisite  immber  of  States  liad 


THE  CONSTITUriUX  IN  NEW  UAMPSHIKE.  159 

ratified  the  Constitution,  its  fate  in  the  remaining  States  was 
so  uncertain  as  to  continue  anxiety  among  its  friends.  New 
Hampshire  was  quite  like  Massachusetts  in  its  feelings  towai'd 
the  New  Plan,  and,  like  Massachusetts  before  the  Boston  Con- 
vention, it  was  claimed  by  both  parties.  Thus  far,  however, 
the  lilast  had  steadily  supported  the  new  Constitution;  and 
when  it  was  known  that  on  the  lOtli  of  February  New  Hamp- 
shire had  assembled  in  Convention  at  Exeter  there  Avas  a  gen- 
eral expectation  of  a  speedy,  and  probably  of  a  unanimous, 
ratification.  But  New  Hampshire  had  no  great  cities  along 
its  coast;  no  great  cities  on  its  rivers.  The  State  was  agri- 
cultural, not  commercial,  and  the  delegates  who  appeared  at 
Exeter  voiced  the  feelings  of  the  country  districts  in  opposi- 
tion to  the  New  Plan  of  national  government.  The  few  Fed- 
eralists in  the  Convention  saw  only  defeat  in  an  immediate 
vote,  and  they  were  glad  to  agree  to  an  adjournment  till  the 
third  Wednesday  in  June,  by  which  time  they  hoped  that 
ratification  by  other  States  would  either  make  the  number 
sufficient  to  adopt  the  Constitution  without  New  Hampshire 
or  sufficient  to  influence  a  favorable  vote  in  New  Hampshire. 
The  adjournment  of  the  Exeter  Convention  caused  joy  among 
the  Anti-Federalists.  They  hurried  the  news  into  States  that 
had  not  yet  acted,  and  specially  into  Maryland,  which  had  called 
its 'Convention  on  the  21st  of  April.  Maryland  held  senti- 
ments toward  the  Constitution  the  oj^posite  of  those  in  Penn- 
sylvania. In  Pennsylvania  the  leaders  had  favored,  the  mass 
of  voters  had  opposed,  the  Constitution;  in  Maryland  the 
majority  of  the  electors  favored  it,  the  leaders  opposed  it. 
In  vain  did  Luther  Martin  and  Samuel  Chase  declaim  against 
the  New  Roof.     Maryland,  next  to  Virginia,  had  inaugu- 


160  MAHYLAXD  AXD  SOUTH  CAJioL/XA  IlATfFV. 

rated  the  inoveiiieut  whicli  liad  bruught  abuut  the  new  Con- 
stitution, and  the  peo])le  of  the  State  sent  u})  to  the  Balti- 
more Convention  more  tlian  sixty  pronouneed  friends  of  tlie 
new  government.  To  obstruct,  to  make  long  s[)eeches,  to 
devise  delays,  to  move  an  adjournment — all  failed.  The 
vote  was  cast  on  the  25th  of  the  month,  and  the  (juestion  of 
ratification  was  carried  by  a  vote  of  sixty-three  to  eleven. 
To  the  Constitution  thus  ratified  the  minority  })roposed 
twenty-eight  amendments. 

Great  was  the  joy  of  the  Federalists  when  the  news  came 
from  Maryland.  Only  two  more  States  were  needed,  and  the 
Constitution  would  be  the  law  of  the  land.  South  Carolina 
convened  on  the  12th  day  of  May,  and  South  Carolina,  next 
to  Virginia,  was  tlie  richest  State  of  the  South.  There  were 
those  in  the  South  Carolina  CoHvention,  as  there  were  many 
more  in  the  State,  who  took  alarm  at  the  pros2:)ect  of  the 
regulation  of  trade  by  a  national  government.  The  Eastern 
States  had  ships,  the  Southern  States  had  goods;  the  exclu- 
sive control  over  commerce  Avould  put  the  Southern  at  the 
mercy  of  the  Eastern  States.  But  these  fears  Avere  allayed 
l)y  the  sjieech  of  Charles  Pinckney,  who  persuaded  the  Con- 
vention that  the  general  government  would  regulate  the  trade 
of  the  whole  country  in  an  ecpiitable  manner.  On  the  23d 
'lay  of  the  month  (he  ballot  was  cast,  and  the  Constitution  was 
ratified  by  a  vole  ol'  one  hundred  ;ind  forty  to  seventy-three. 
With  llic  vol(!  of  ratitication  was  sent  uj)  four  amendments, 
insisted  on  by  the  minority.  Weeks  passed  before  the  vote 
in  South  Carolina  reached  New  England,  and  on  tlu'  17th  of 
. I  line,  llic  duy  of  :ill  New  l^higland  days,  the  Xew  Ilanipshiri^ 
( 'on\  ciii  loll   had    I'c-asscnibled,   and    1  lie  C(Hi\('iit  inn    of   New 


VIRGINIA  AND  XEW  YORK  IN  CONVENTION.  161 

.York  niut  ;it  Puughkeepsie.  Ou  the  2(1  of  tliu  inoiilli 
the  Convention  of  Virginia  liad  assembled  at  Kiehniond. 
After  four  days  the  Exeter  Convention  adopted  tht  Constitii- 
tiun  by  a  vote  of  fifty-seven  to  forty-six,  tlie  minority  send- 
ing up  twelve  amendments.  New  Hampshire  Avas  thus  the 
ninth  State  to  ratify,  and  the  Constitution  Avas  by  its  own 
provisions  the  Supreme  Law  of  the  Land. 

But  New  York  and  Virginia  were  now  in  Convention,  and 
a  Union  without  these  two  great  States  would  soon  prove  a 
divided  Union.  AVhen  New  Ilampshii'e  ratified,  Virginia  had 
been  in  Convention  nearly  three  weeks,  and  the  enemies  of 
the  Constitution  there  had  been  marshaling  every  argument 
they  could  devise  against  it.  Patrick  Henry  led  them.  He 
had  refused  to  attend  the  Philadelphia  Convention,  and  he 
now  refused  to  give  his  approval  to  its  work.  Henry  could 
not  argue,  but  he  could  make  winning  speeches.  Madison 
and  Randolph  and  John  Marshall  could  not  always  make 
winning  speeches,  but  they  could  argue.  Henry's  objections 
to  the  New  Plan  were  summed  up  in  one  sentence  :  The  Con- 
stitution is  a  consolidated  government.  On  the  dangers  of 
such  a  government  he  talked  until  the  14th  of  June  had 
come.  Ten  days  passed  in  the  debate  on  a  motion  to  take 
up  the  Constitution  clause  by  clause.  Henry  proposed  a 
bill  of  rights  and  twenty  amendments.  On  the  25tli  of 
the  month  the  vote  was  taken  on  adoption;  eighty-nine  voted 
to  ratify  and  seventy-nine  voted  nay.  But  the  victory  in 
Virginia  was  due  to  the  influence  of  one  of  her  citizens  who 
was  not  a  member  of  this  Convention.  Washington  exerted 
himself  in  behalf  of  the  Constitution  which,  in  Convention, 

he  had  been  the  first  to  sign;  and  the  influence  of  Washing- 
11 


J62  WA SIIiyGTO^i'S  INFL  UENGE. 

ton  ill  Virginia  was  equal  to  at  least  ten  votes  in  the  Rich- 
mond Convention. 

By  the  28th  of  June  the  news  from  New  Hampshire  and 
the  news  from  Virginia  met  in  Philadelphia  and  New  York 
city,  and  the  Federalists  in  all  the  great  towns  of  the  coast 
prepared  to  celebrate  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  with 
appropriate  ceremonies  on  the  aj)proaching  4th  of  July. 
AVhat  time,  they  said,  was  more  fitting?  The  anniversary 
of  national  independence  should  be  made  more  glorious  by  the 
celebration  of  the  adoption  of  the  Constitution.  Of  the  \)Yo- 
cessions,  the  speeches,  the  toasts,  the  mechanical  and  industrial 
displays  on  great  floats  dragged  up  and  down  the  streets; 
of  the  huzzas,  of  the  salutes  and  salvos,  of  the  waving  of 
flags,  the  display  of  bunting  by  day  and  the  illuminations 
at  night,  of  the  joy  of  the  peoj^le  that  at  last  they  liad  safely 
come  under  the  New  Roof,  and  that  tlie  more  perfect 
Union  was  formed,  the  newspapers  made  ample  record,  and 
tlie  memories  of  men  long  kept  a  vivid  picture.  But  in 
Albany  and  in  Providence  the  rejoicings  were  interrupted 
by  Anti-Federalist  mobs  and  riots.  There  were  some  bloody 
affrays. 

New  York  had  been  assembled  in  convention  some  three 
weeks,  and  George  Clinton  was  its  president.  Perhaps  no 
ip.an  who  claimed  to  be  an  American  was  more  bitterly  op- 
posed to  the  Conslilutiuii  than  Clinton,  and  pcrlia])S  lu) 
American  had  greater  influence  in  the  State  of  New  York. 
To  an  understanding  of  the  Constitution  the  people  of  New 
York,  since  the  30th  of  October  of  the  previous  year,  had 
been  specially  fav(»rcd,  for  on  that  day  began  to  a])p('ar,  in 
the  Neio  York  Pai-kd,  a  series  of  papers  signed  Publius,  in 


THE  FEDERALIST.  163 

exposition  of  the  Constitution.  Copied  into  other  newspa- 
pers, the  articles  by  Publius  were  widely  read.  It  was  soon 
discovered  that  Publius  was  the  name  chosen,  not  by  one, 
but  by  three  men  who  favored  the  New  Plan — Hamilton,  who 
suggested  the  articles,  Madison,  and  Jay.  These  articles  are 
known  to  us  as  lite  Federalist,  the  ablest  exposition  of  the 
national  Constitution  ever  made.  To  the  readers  of  the  news- 
j)apcrs  in  which  they  appeared  they  were  merely  the  letters 
of  some  political  partisans.  On  the  4th  of  April,  1788,  they 
had  ceased.  Jay  liad  ceased  to  write.  Hamilton  was  busy 
with  a  large  legal  practice.  Madison  was  defending  the 
Constitution  in  Virginia.  But  when  the  Convention  of  New 
York  assembled  at  Poughkeepsie  Hamilton  resumed  the 
series  and  wrote  the  last  ten  papers.  Madison,  in  fourteen 
papers,  Avrofe  on  the  plan  of  the  new  government;  on  its 
conformity  to  republican  principles;  its  powers;  its  relation  to 
slavery  and  the  slave  trade;  its  mediating  office  between  the 
Union  and  the  States;  its  separation  into  three  departments 
and  the  mode  of  constructing  the  House  of  Representatives. 
Hamilton,  in  sixty-three  numbers,  discussed  the  defects 
of  the  Confederation;  the  energy  of  the  proposed  national 
government;  its  relation  to  public  defense,  to  the  executive, 
to  the  judiciary,  to  the  treasury,  and  to  commerce.  Three 
papers  were  written  jointly  by  Hamilton  and  Madison.  Jay, 
in  five  papers,  discussed  the  general  plan  of  the  new  Con- 
stitution. The  influence  of  this  series  in  1787-88  must  not 
be  judged  by  the  fame  of  The  Federalist  a  century  later. 
Many  then  tliought  that  these  Federal  letters  were  far  in- 
ferior to  the  Objectio7is  to  the  Federal  Constitution,  by 
George  Mason,  or  The  Eixamination  of  the  Constitution  of 


164  CLINTON  KEEPS  BACK  THE  VOTE. 

the  United  States  of  America,  by  "An  American  Citizen."* 
Nor  in  the  opinion  of  some  were  tliey  more  persuasive  than 
the  Ohservations  on  the  New  Constitution,  hy  a  "  Co- 
lumbian Patriot,"  f  nor  the  Address  to  the  People  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  by  "  A  Plebeian."  I 

Time  has  tried  the  writings  of  the  fathers,  and  The 
Federalist  is  their  one  classic  book  on  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States. 

But  the  people  of  the  State  of  New  York  to  whom  Pub- 
lius  wrote  were  little  influenced  by  TJie  Federalist.  Clinton 
opposed  the  Constitution,  and  Clinton's  friends  opposed  the 
Constitution,  and  the  Poughkee])sie  Convention  was  mostly 
composed  of  Clinton's  friends.  A  vote  on  ratification  might 
have  been  taken  any  day  of  the  session  up  to  the  24th  of 
June,  and  the  vote  would  have  been  almost  unanimously 
against  ratification.  Not  to  vote,  but  to  delay,  was  the  Anti- 
Federal  plan.  New  Hampshire  had  not  yet  been  heard  from, 
and  it  was  pretty  sure  that  Avhen  the  news  came  it  would  be 
news  of  the  rejection  of  the  Constitution.  Virginia  had  not 
yet  voted,  but  Virginia  was  counted  on  as  Anti-Federal.  Clin- 
ton therefore  kept  back  the  A'ote,  ]io[)ing  that  nine  States 
could  not  be  found  t(^  ratify,  and  the  blame  of  a  rejection 
could  not  llicii  l)c  put  upon  New  York.  But  if  New  Hamp- 
sliire  sliMulil  iMlify,  then  New  York  must  follow  or  remain 
out  of  llic  riiiuii.  To  I'alify  meant  to  bury  every  objection 
Avliich  Yates  and  Lansing  and  Clinton  could  find  in  the  New 
I'lan  and  to  adopt  a  government  who.se  plan  was  hateful;  to 
refuse  to  ratify  meant  Slate  indcpi'iidence,  an  expensive  gov- 
ermiiciil.il   cstMblisliniciit,   licavv  taxes,  and  constant   danger 

*'l'eiieli  (.'().\t'.  -J-  I'ilbrictgt!  (ierry.  ;}:  Molaiiclhou  Smith. 


HAMILTON  CARRIES  NEW  YORK.  16b 

from  neighboring  powers — tlie  United  States  on  the  east  aiul 
south,  and  England  on  the  north.  But  the  C-onvention  was 
proud;  it  was  confident  tliat  the  State  coukl  sup})ort  an  estab- 
lishment, and  equally  confident  that  the  Constitution  was 
essentially  bad.  The  Federalists  in  the  State  lived  chiefly  in 
New  York  city,  and  thei-e  they  tried  to  awaken  some  enthu- 
siasm for  the  Constitution  by  a  parade,  by  speeches,  and  be- 
fore the  day  was  over  by  attacking  the  office  of  an  Anti- 
Federalist  paper,  the  New  York  Journal.  This  display  of 
party  vigor  won  no  new  fi'iends,  and  it  was  generally  felt 
that  the  Convention  would  refuse  to  ratify.  In  the  Conven- 
tion with  others  sat  John  Jay  and  Alexander  Hamilton,  and 
Hamilton  spoke  ten  times.  He  attempted  to  defend  the 
Constitution  before  a  body  opposed,  to  it  and  to  win  those 
opponents  into  voting  for  it.  Chief  among  the  speakers  in 
Clinton's  party  was  Melancthon  Smith.  He  attempted  to 
nnswer  Hamilton,  but  he  ended  by  deserting  his  party  and 
joining  the  Federalist  minority.  Never  before  or  since  in 
American  history  was  such  a  political  victory  won  as  Hamil- 
ton won  in  the  Poughkeepsie  Convention.  He  is  said  to 
have  remarked,  subsequently,  that  he  could  see  the  delegates 
change  their  opinions.  The  Anti-Federalist  majority  was 
transformed  into  a  minority,  and  the  only  question  pending 
was  how  to  compromise  on  party  differences.  Thirty-two 
amendments  were  proposed,  and  the  Anti-Federalists  insisted 
that  ratification,  if  it  came  at  all,  must  be  on  condition  that 
these  amendments  be  embodied  in  the  new  Constitution. 
But  conditional  ratification  was  without  precedent,  and  before 
replying  to  the  inquiry  of  the  minority,  Hamilton  met  Madi- 
son in  conference  at  New  York  and  [)nt  the  question,  Can  a 


1.66  THE  GONSTITUTIOK  IN  XORTII  CAROLmA. 

State  ratify  conditionally  and  afterward  withdraw  from  the 
Union  if  the  conditions  are  not  satisfied  ?  Madison's  reply 
was  an  emphatic  negative.  Conditional  membership  in  the 
Union  meant  a  broken  Union,  and  the  Union  could  not  pro- 
vide for  its  own  dissolution.  On  the  26th  of  the  month  a 
vote  was  reached;  it  stood  thirty  for  ratification,  twent}'- 
seven  against,  and  thirty-two  amendments  were  proposed. 
Although  victors  by  so  small  a  majority  the  Federalists 
Avere  the  victors,  and  their  victorious  leader  was  Hamilton. 
He  was  just  entering  his  thirty-second  year.  To  his  argu- 
ments and  eloquence  the  victory  was  due.  The  friends  of 
the  Constitution  assembled  in  force  in  Xew  York  city;  they 
built  a  fair  ship  of  state,  which  they  placed  on  wheels  and 
drew  up  and  down  the  streets  amid  loud  huzzas,  and  the 
name  of  the  ship  was — Ilattillton. 

On  the  day  when  the  vote  in  New  York  was  reached. 
North  C-arolina  had  been  five  days  in  Convention  at  Hills- 
borough. Opposition  was  strong.  While  in  consideration 
of  the  Constituticjn,  clause  by  clause,  came  in  the  news  of 
ratification  by  Virginia,  by  New  Hampshire,  and  by  New 
York,  and  also  the  letter  from  Governor  Clinton  advis- 
ing the  States  to  call  another  Constitutional  Convention. 
Eleven  States  had  ratified;  should  North  Carolina  refuse? 
They  objected  to  many  parts  of  the  Constitution;  tliey 
})r()posed  a  declaration  of  rights  in  twenty  articles,  and 
amendments  to  the  number  of  twenty-six.  On  the  2d  of 
August  the  Convention  adjourned  without  voting  on  the 
question  of  ratification.  It  was  not  until  November  21  of 
the  following  year  tliat  North  Carolina  ratified,  and  not  until 
May  2(»tli,17!t(),  that  Ithode  Island  ado])tcd  the  Constitution. 


THE  CONSTITUTION  BECOMES  THE  LA  W  OF  THE  LAND.    167 

It  had  been  resolved,  on  the  last  day  of  the  session  of  the 
Philadelphia  Convention,  that  as  soon  as  Congress  should  re- 
ceive official  information  that  nine  States  had  ratified  the  Con- 
stitution the  new  government  sliould  speedily  go  into  effect; 
electors  should  be  appointed  by  the  States  for  the  purpose  of 
choosing  a  President  and  a  Vice-President;  senators  and  rep- 
resentatives should  also  be  chosen  in  the  several  States;  the 
Senate  should  convene  and  ap])oint  a  president  of  the  Senate 
for  the  sole  purpose  of  receiving,  o{)ening,  and  counting  the 
votes  for  President,  and  that  after  he  should  be  chosen 
the  Congress,  together  with  the  President,  should,  without 
delay,  proceed  to  execute  the  Constitution.  This  last  recom- 
mendation of  the  Convention  accompanied  the  text  of  the 
new  Constitution  to  Congress,  and  the  civil  programme  which 
it  outlined, was  carried  out. 

Eleven  States  having  ratified.  Congress  received  official 
information  and  pi'oceeded  to  fix  the  date  when  the  Consti- 
tution should  become  the  Law  of  the  Land.  Many  da3^s 
were  spent  in  debating  what  place  should  be  chosen  for  the 
national  capital.  Sliould  it  be  New  York,  or  Philadelphia, 
or  Trenton,  or  Lancaster,  or  Baltimore  ?  And  after  many 
curious  reasons  for  each  of  these  towns  New  York  was 
chosen.  It  was  decided  that  presidential  electors  should  be 
chosen  on  the  first  Wednesday  of  January,  1789;  that  the 
electors  should  meet  and  vote  for  President  on  the  first 
Wednesday  of  February,  and  that  the  new  Congress  should 
assemble  on  the  first  Wednesday  in  March,  which  in  that  year 
came  on  the  4th  of  the  month.  The  presidential  electors  were 
with  general  uniformity  in  the  States  appointed  by  the 
State  legislatures,  which  doubtless  was  the  manner  of  choice 


168  WASHINGTON  AND  ADAMS  ELECTED. 

intended  by  the  framers  of  the  Constitution.  There  was  no 
organized  cam^iaign,  no  struggle  between  well-defined  parties. 
It  was  generally  expected  that  the  presidential  vote  would 
be  cast  for  the  foremost  American,  but  speculation  and  in- 
trigue entered  into  the  choice  of  Vice-President.  Nearly 
a  m«nth  passed  after  tlie  date  for  the  assembling  of  Congress 
before  a  quorum  appeared  in  both  houses.  The  House 
got  together  a  quorum  on  the  1st  of  April;  the  Senate 
elected  its  president  ^j)ro  temjyore,  John  Langdon,  on  the  Gth. 
On  that  day  the  houses  met  in  joint  session,  and  the  votes 
were  counted.  There  were  sixty-nine  votes  in  all,  and  there 
were  sixty-nine  \otes  for  George  Washington  for  President. 
For  Vice-President  John  Adams,  of  Massachusetts,  received 
thirty-four  votes,  the  remainder  being  scattered  among  sev- 
eral competitors.  The  speaker  therefore  declared  George 
Washington  elected  President,  and  John  Adams,  Vice-Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States.  A  messenger  was  dispatched  to 
Mount  Vernon,  another  to  Braintree,  to  acquaint  Washing- 
ton and  Adams  of  their  election. 

After  tlie  lapse  of  a  century  and  more,  the  events  con- 
nected with  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  probably 
are  more  clearly  understood  than  they  were  to  the  actors 
themselves  in  those  events.  A  few  men  took  the  initiative 
toward  an  amendment  of  the  Articles  of  Confederation.  A 
few  men  advocated  reform  from  their  places  in  State  legis- 
latures, as  did  Madison,  or  from  the  quiet  of  their  homes,  as 
did  Washington.  A  few  men  were  chosen  by  Conventions 
to  make  tlie  Constitution.  They  assembled  in  Philadelphia; 
they  met  in  a  CoTivention  with  closed  doors;  they  took  an 
oath  of    secrecy  ;   they  compromised  their  differences   and 


THE  MEN  WHO  DID  IT.  1G9 

made  tlie  Constitution;  not  a  new  plan,  a  piece  of  work  sud- 
denly struck  off,  but  an  expression  of  American  experience 
in  politics  and  in  representative  government.  The  Consti- 
tution went  to  Congress,  where  a  few  men  succeeded  in  get- 
ting it  sent,  with  decency,  to  tlie  executives  of  the  States. 
A  few  men  welcomed  the  Constitutioii,  were  elected  members 
of  State  Conventions,  and  in  every  State,  save  two,  labored 
for  it  against  every  form  of  opposition.  Samuel  Adams  and 
Fisher  Ames  in  Massachusetts,  John  Langdon  in  New 
Hampshire,  Roger  Sherman  in  Connecticut,  David  Brearley 
in  New  Jersey,  Benjamin  Franklin  and  James  Wilson  in 
Pennsylvania,  Alexander  Hamilton  in  New  York,  Washington, 
Madison,  and  John  Marshall  in  Virginia,  Charles  Pinckney 
in  South  Carolina,  Abram  Baldwin  in  Georgia,  and  a  few 
other  men  of  similar  character  and  sentiments  carried  the 
Constitution  through  the  State  Convention. 

The  people  did  not  vote  directly  on  the  question  of  ratifi- 
cation. A  popular  vote  would,  undoubtedly,  have  defeated 
it.  The  Constitution  was  the  work  of  men  whose  thoughts 
were  far  in  advance  of  that  of  the  mass  of  Americans.  Its 
liberal  spirit  has  caused  the  modification  of  all  the  first  con- 
stitutions of  the  States,  and  has  become  the  model  for  con- 
stitutions of  new  States  admitted  into  the  Union.  We  would 
err  in  imputing  to  our  ancestors  that  understanding  of  the 
national  Constitution  which  is  now  familiar  knowledge  in 
America.  To  them  the  Constitution  was  a  theory;  to  us  it  is 
rather  an  administration.  To  them  the  problem  was,  What 
can  it  do  ?  To  us  the  problem  is,  What  will  it  do  ?  We  may 
safely  affirm  that  few  persons  in  private  life  in  1789  ever 
learned  to  understand  the  Constitution.    Many  of  the  eminent 


170  EXIT  THE  GONFEDERATIOl^. 

men  who  Irained  it  made  such  an  interpretation  of  its  pro- 
visions as  by  the  clear  liglit  of  subsequent  events  in  our  na- 
tional history  must  be  said  to  be  wrong.  The  national  gov- 
ernment had  been  administered  al)ove  seventy  years  before 
its  essential  character  as  the  Supreme  Law  of  the  Land  was 
plainly  admitted  by  the  people  of  the  United  States.  But  the 
interpretation  of  the  Constitution,  by  writers,  by  legislators, 
by  journalists,  by  political  parties,  by  Presidents,  by  Con- 
gress, by  the  Supreme  Court,  cannot  be  told  within  the  limits 
of  this  book.  Nor  has  interpretation  yet  fully  crystallized. 
Interpretation  must  ever  be  changing  as  change  the  condi- 
tions of  affairs  in  our  country. 

After  the  1st  of  January,  1789,  there  never  assembled  a 
quorum  of  the  old  Congress.  On  the  evening  of  March  3  a 
parting  salute  of  thirteen  guns  was  fired  in  honor  of  the  old 
Confederation,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  4th  the  era  of  the 
more  perfect  Union  was  announced  by  the  firing  of  eleven 
guns  in  honor  of  the  eleven  ratifying  States.  These  salvos 
seemed  to  mark  a  meaningless  ceremony.  There  was  no  one 
of  the  old  Congress  to  go  away,  and  only  eight  senators  and 
thirteen  representatives  of  the  new  Congress  had  come. 
These  members  at  once  dispatched  letters  to  their  colleagues- 
elect.  Soon  after  April  1st  a  quorum  assembled.  On  'I'liurs- 
day,  the  9th  of  Ajtril,  John  Adams  received  the  official  letter 
from  Congress  notifying  him  of  his  election,  and  on  the  fol- 
lowiiig  Monday  he  set  out  for  New  York.  As  he  passed 
fi'oiii  town  to  town  lie  was  received  with  honorable  attention, 
and,  journeying  on  in  a  splendid  carriage,  he  reached  the  capi- 
tal on  the  w'Oth  and  took  the  oath  of  ofii(!e  before  the  Senate 
on  tlu!  following  day.    To  Mount  Vernon  had  gone  as  special 


WASHINGTON'S  JOURNEY  TO  NEW  YORK.  171 

messenger  Charles  Thompson,  tlie  trusted  secretary  of  the 
(Continental  Congress  throughout  its  history.  On  the  14th 
of  April  Washington  received  the  official  letter  of  his  election. 
Two  days  later  he  set  out  for  New  York.  His  journey  was 
a  peaceful,  triumphal  procession.  At  Alexandria,  at  Wil- 
mington, at  Philadelphia,  at  Trenton,  at  Princeton,  at  Eliza- 
bethtown,  at  a  score  of  smaller  cities  and  towns,  he  was 
received  M'ith  every  proof  of  veneration  and  affection.  His 
journey  was  a  continuous  ovation.  On  the  28d  he  reached 
New  York  and  stopped  at  the  Franklin  House,  which  had 
been  specially  fitted  up  as  his  residence.  Preparations  were 
now  making  for  his  inauguration.  The  programme  was 
made  by  a  congressional  committee.  The  President  was  to 
be  received  in  the  Senate  chamber  on  Thursday,  the  30th  of 
April.  Both  houses  should  then  adjourn  to  the  Representa- 
tives' chamber,  Avhere  Washington  should  take  the  oath  of 
office  administered  by  the  Chancellor  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  R.  R.  Livingstone.  The  President,  the  Vice-President, 
and  both  houses  of  Congress  should  then  hear  divine  wor- 
shij)  in  St.  Paul's  Church.  This  simple  programme  was  fol- 
lowed. Never  before  had  so  many  people  been  in  the  cit}". 
Never  before  had  good  will,  good  cheer,  and  good  feeling 
l)een  so  universal  there.  At  one  o'clock  of  his  inauguration 
day  Washington,  escorted  by  the  military,  proceeded  from 
his  place  of  residence  to  the  Federal  State-House.  He  en- 
tered the  room  of  the  Representatives  and  was  conducted 
to  the  chair  by  John  Adams.  The  Vice-President  then  in- 
formed him  that  "  the  Senate  and  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives Avere  ready  to  attend  him  to  take  tlie  oath  required  by 
the  Constitution,  and  that  it  would  be  administered  by  the 


172  TEE  IXAUGURATrOK. 

Cliaucellor  of  the  State  of  New  York."  Wasliington  replied 
that  he  was  ready.  He  arose  and  was  conducted  to  an  open 
gallery  which  overlooked  Broad  Street.  At  his  appearance 
the  people  hushed  to  a  respectful  silence.  He  came  forward, 
Chancellor  Livingstone  read  the  oath,  Washington  repeatL-d 
it,  and,  stooping,  kissed  the  Bible  which  the  secretary  of  the 
Senate  had  raised  to  his  lips.  At  this  instant  a  flag  was  run 
up  as  a  signal,  and  immediately  from  the  Battery  there  was 
a  discharge  of  artillery.  The  bells  rang  out  their  peals,  and 
Livingstone  cried,  "  Long  live  George  Washington,  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  !  "  which  was  taken  i;p  by  the 
people  and  wliieh  echoed  and  re-echoed  throughout  the  city. 
Within  a  few  days  Washington  sent  the  list  of  his  cabinet 
advisers  to  the  Senate,  and  they  were  immediately  confirmed. 
Jefferson  Avas  called  to  tlie  deiiartraent  of  state,  Hamilton  to 
the  treasury,  Knox  to  the  department  of  war  ;  Randolph 
was  made  attorney-general.  Congress  passed  the  judiciary 
act  on  the  24th  of  September  following,  creating  one  Supreme 
Court  and  two  orders  of  inferior  courts,  called  Circuit  Courts 
and  District  Courts,*  Washington  apj)<)in1i'd  Julm  Jay  chief- 
justice,  and  with  him  five  associate  judges.  Thus  before  the  year 
closed  the  Constitution  in  all  of  its  de])art3nents  was  in  proc- 
ess of  administration.  On  the  4th  of  March,  1789,  we  date 
the  time  wlien  the  Constitution  of  the  TJiiited  States  became 
the  Supremi'  T^aw  of  the  Land.  It  Avas  natural  that  Washing- 
ton should  gather  about  him  in  the  administi'ation  of  the  new 
government  the  men  who  had  served  with  him  dui'ing  the 
war  and  who  had  sat  willi  him  in  the  Conventiou  of  1787. 
From  that,  (•<)mpany  of  excellent  companions  he  made  his 
*'l'lie  AiipcllaU:  ('nulls  were  created  hy  act  of  Murcli  3,  1891. 


tup:  ten  amendments.  1-73 

appointments,  and  thus  it  came  that  those  who  liad  been  first 
to  hi'ing  about  tlie  Constitution  of  the  United  States  were  the 
first  cliosen  to  administer  it.  ]5ut  the  difficulties,  tlie  contests, 
tlie  intrigues,  the  endless  debates,  and  the  bitter  opposition 
through  which  the  Constitution  passed  before  it  be<;ame  the 
Law  of  tlie  Land  was  only  an  introduction  to  the  more  severe 
tests  to  which  it  has  been  put  in  practical  administration 
since  that  time.  About  it  have  contended  powerful  parties 
in  the  forum  and  mighty  armies  on  the  field  of  battle.  Nor 
has  it  remained  unchanged  to  our  day. 

The  numerous  amendments  suggested  l)y  the  various  rati- 
fying conventions  in  1787  and  1788  indicate  how  narrowly 
the  Constitution  escaped  defeat  at  that  time,  and  also  to  wha^ 
degree  dissatisfaction  Avith  its  form  and  with  its  various 
clauses  took  definite  expression.  The  common  objection  to 
the  Constitution  at  that  time  was  the  omission  of  a  Bill  of 
Rights — a  defect  which  was  carefully  pointed  out  in  each  Con- 
vention, It  was  to  remedy  this  supposed  defect  that  so  many 
amendments  were  proposed,  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  in 
all,  at  the  time  of  its  ratification.  As  soon  as  Congress  as- 
sembled under  the  Constitution  the  subject  of  amendments 
was  taken  up,  and  before  the  year  1789  had  passed  the  first 
ten  amendments  were  proposed  by  Congress  and  ratified  by 
the  States,  These  ten  amendments,  made  so  soon  after  the 
creation  of  the  instrument  itself,  have  always  been  considered 
as  of  a  piece  with  the  work  of  the  Convention.  The  eleventh 
amendment,  declared  in  force  January  8,  1798,  was  made  in 
conformity  with  a  demand  of  the  State  of  Georgia  and  other 
sympathizing  States  in  order  to  permit  a  State  to  escape  being 
brought  as  a  defendant  before  the  bar  of  a  federal  court.    By 


174  XATUKE  OF  THE  AMENDMENTS. 

this  amendment  it  has  come  ahout  that  sutne  of  tlie  States, 
not  being  comi)elle<l  to  jiay  their  debts,  have  rejdidiated  them. 
Tlie  twelfth  amendment  was  added  September  L'otli,  1804,  after 
the  first  exj^erience  of  the  country  witli  a  disputed  presiden- 
tial election.  The  presidential  electors  at  the  time  of  the  first 
election  of  Thomas  Jefferson  Avcre  equally  divided  between 
him  and  Aaron  Burr,  and  the  election  went  to  the  House  of 
Representatives.  It  was  thought  that  the  defect  in  the  Con- 
stitution, as  it  formerly  provided  for  the  election  of  President, 
would  be  emedied  by  this  amendment;  but  subsequent  experi- 
ence has  twice  ])roved  that  the  amendment  failed  as  a  remedy. 

No  ])roblem  which  arose  in  the  administration  of  the  na- 
tional Constitution  was  more  difficult  than  the  problem  of 
slavery.  It  was  an  industrial  and  a  political  problem,  and  at 
last  it  divided  the  sentiment  of  the  country.  By  the  thirteenth 
amendment,  which  became  a  part  of  the  Constitution  Decem- 
ber 18th,  1865,  slavery  was  abolished  in  the  United  States. 
Three  years  later,  on  the  28th  of  July,  the  Constitution  was 
again  amended  so  as  to  confer  citizenship  on  all  persons  born 
or  naturalized  in  the  United  States,  and  to  extend  the  pro- 
tection of  tlie  Constitution  and  the  laws  over  them  in  all  their 
civil  rights.  In  order  to  prevent  discrimination  against  any 
cilizens  on  account  (jf  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of 
servitude,  the  fifteenth  amendment  was  added  to  the  Consti- 
tution March  .30tli,  ISVO.  This  last  Constitutional  amendment 
forbiils  any  State  to  discriminate  against  any  of  its  citizens 
ill  ciiiil'd-i-ing  the  right  (o  vote. 

Dui'ing  till'  ccntniy  more  than  seven  hundi'cd  and  fifty 
Mmcinlmciits  have  at  \;u-iiiiis  t  iiiics  l»ccii  proposed  to  the  C-on- 
siitiitioii  of  till'  I'nitt'd  Slates.     J 'ei-haps  no  subject  on  which 


PRINCIPLES  AND  PEA  GTICE.  1 75 

there  is  a  difference  of  opinion  in  the  administration  of  gov- 
ernment has  been  omitted  in  these  proposed  amendments.  Of 
these  seven  liundred  and  tifty,  iifteen  have  been  adopted. 
Wiih  each  successive  year  of  administration  the  adoption  of 
amendments  is  increasingly  difficult,  but  without  doubt  in  tlie 
future,  as  it  has  been  in  the  past,  the  Constitution  will  from 
time  to  time  be  modified  so  as  to  adapt  itself  closely  to  chang- 
ing or  changed  conditions  of  American  national  life.  So  long 
as  it  is  adapted  to  the  wants  of  the  nation  it  will  remain  the 
Supreme  Law  of  the  Land.  'J'he  i)rinciples  on  which  the  Con- 
stitution are  founded  are  accepted  with  harmony,  but  in  the 
administration  of  those  principles  individuals  and  political 
parties  differ.  The  story  of  the  administration  of  the  Con- 
stitution cannot  be  told  in  this  book;  I  have  sought  simply  to 
tell  the  story  of  the  origin,  the  formation,  and  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution.  However  widely  we  may  differ  as  to  the 
administration  of  our  Sui)reme  Law,  I  am  quite  sure  that  we 
agree  that  the  destiny  of  the  Constitution  is  bound  up  with 
the  destiny  of  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

From  the  time  of  the  first  colonial  Assembly  in  Virginia  to 
the  time  of  tlie  ratification  of  the  national  Constitution,  a 
period  of  one  hundred  and  seventy  years,  the  American  people 
were  working  out  the  problem  of  the  disposition  of  the  taxing 
power,  and  at  last  tliey  placed  it  in  their  national  govern- 
ment, as  they  had  for  generati(ms  placed  it  in  their  local  gov- 
ernments, in  the  lower  house  of  the  legislature,  the  House  of 
Representatives.  Without  doubt  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives is  the  nucleus  of  the  government  of  the  United  States, 
the  center  of  our  national  system.  The  dispute  about  taxes, 
through  which  this  country  was  passing  for  nearly  two  cent- 


176  THE  CONSTITUTION  THE  WORK  OF  CENTURIES. 

uries,  was  a  dispute  as  to  who  should  levy  them.  Fur  all 
future  time  there  seems  to  remain  a  second,  and  perhaps  no 
less  critical,  question,  How  shall  taxes  be  levied?  how  shall 
tinanee  be  administered?  In  the  close  study  of  American 
politics  it  is  this  question  which,  if  understood,  makes  clear  the 
condition  of  civil  affairs  at  any  time.  It  may  seem  to  some 
that  a  hundred  anid  seventy  years  is  a  long  time  for  learning 
that  the  lower  house  of  a  legislature  should  levy  taxes,  but 
it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  mankind  is  a  slow  scholar, 

I  think  that,  were  all  the  details  of  our  constitutional 
history  told,  the  strange  and  often  contradictory  story 
Avould  be  considered  rather  as  a  romance  than  as  a  history, 
for  history  is  commonly  supposed  to  be  very  grave,  very  sys- 
tematic, very  philosophical,  and  very  true.  Napoleon  once 
spoke  of  history  as  a  fable  agreed  upon.  If  you  who  have 
been  so  forbearing  as  to  read  this  Sto?-i/  of  the  Constitution 
have  read  between  the  lines  you  have  detected  that  history 
is  never  agreed  upon;  that  history  is  like  the  men  and  women 
who  make  it,  quite  uncertain,  and  fre(piently  far  from  being 
just  as  people  imagine  it  may  be.  You  have  discovered  what 
even  so  great  a  man  as  a  recent  prime  minister  of  England 
failed  to  discover  when  he  spoke  of  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  as  being  made  at  a  single  stroke.  Our  Consti- 
tution  has  been  centuries  a-makingand  is  not  yet  made.  We 
have  a  written  Constitution  and  an  unwritten  Constitution, 
and  we  use  tliem  both,  and  both  have  grown  with  our  national 
growth  and  both  riay  deejay  with  our  national  decay.  But 
as  Americans  we  lay  claim  to  some  discoveries  in  constitu- 
tional affairs.  We  have  worked  out  a  representative  gov- 
ernment after  an  apprenticeship  of  nearly  two  centuries,  aiui 


THE  SECOND  PART  OF  THE  STORY.  177 

ill  our  daily  adniini.stratiuu  of  that  form  of  govcriinicut  wo 
are  now  serving  an  apprenticeship  in  administration.  Whether 
our  apprenticeship  in  administration  shall  be  as  long  as  was 
our  apprenticeship  in  working  out  the  principles  of  represent- 
ative government  no  man  can  tell,  but,  as  the  administration 
of  government  proves  to  be  an  exceedingly  difficult  problem, 
there  is  little  doubt  that  our  second  period  of  apprenticeship 
will  be  much  longer  than  our  first.  The  story  of  government 
from  the  time  when  the  first  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses  as- 
sembled in  1G19  till  the  first  national  Congress  assembled  in 
1789,  when  told  ages  hence,  will  doubtless  be  less  strange  and 
perhai)s  less  interesting  than  that  second  part  of  the  story  of 

government  upon  which  we  have  entered. 
12 


178  TEE  CONSTITUTION. 


THE  CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.* 


We  the  People  of  the  United  States,  in  order  to  form  a 
more  perfect  Union,  establish  Justice,  insure  domestic  Tran- 
quillity, ])rovide  for  the  common  defence,  promote  the  gen- 
eral Welfare,  and  secure  the  IMessings  of  Liberty  to  ourselves 
and  our  Posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish  this  Constitution 
for  the  United  States  of  America. 

ARTICLE  I. 

Section  1. 
All  legislative  Powers  herein  granted  shall  be  vested  in  a 
Congress  of  the  United  States,  which  shall  consist  of  a  Senate 

and  House  of  Representatives. 

• 

Section  2. 

The  House  of  Representativas  shall  be  composed  of  Mem- 
bers chosen  every  second  year  by  the  People  of  the  several 
States,  and  the  Electors  in  each  State  shall  have  the  qualifi- 
cations requisite  for  Electors  of  the  most  numerous  Branch  of 
the  State  Legislatui-e. 

Xo  Pi'rson  shall  be  a  Representative  who  shall  not  have  at- 
tained to  the  age;  of  twenty-Hve  Years,  and  been  seven  years  a 
Citizen  of  (he  TTuited  States,  and  wlio  sliall  not,  wlien  ek'cted, 
l)e  an  Tiihabilant  of  that  Stale  in  wliicli  he  shall  be  chosen. 

*'riiist(^\t  follows  tlie  oi'ii^iiiiil  at  W:i.sliiiii;toii,  c'XC(.'(H  for  Uio  luiiciidiiicuts, 
wliidi  aro  printed  in  iiiodeni  fortu. 


THE  CONSTITUTION.  179 

Repj-eseiitatives  and  direct  Taxes  shall  be  apportioned 
among  the  several  States  Avhich  may  be  included  within  thiis 
Union,  according  to  their  respective  Numbers,  which  shall  be 
determined  by  adding  to  the  whole  Number  of  free  IVrsons, 
including  those  bound  to  service  for  a  Term  of  Years,  and  ex- 
cluding Indians  not  taxed,  three-fifths  of  all  other  Persons, 
The  actual  Enumeration  shall  be  made  within  three  Years 
after  the  first  Meeting  of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States, 
and  within  every  subsequent  Term  of  ten  Years,  in  such 
Manner  as  they  shall  by  Law  direct.  The  Number  of  Rep- 
resentatives shall  not  exceed  one  for  every  thirty  thousand, 
but  each  State  shall  have  at  least  one  Representative;  and 
until  such  enumeration  shall  be  made,  the  State  of  New 
Hampshire  shall  be  entitled  to  choose  three,  Massachusetts 
eight,  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations  one,  Con- 
necticut five.  New  York  six,  New  Jersey  four,  Pennsylvania 
eight,  Delaware  one,  Maryland  six,  Virginia  ten.  North  Caro- 
lina five.  South  Carolina  five,  an<l  Georgia  three. 

When  vacancies  ha})])en  in  the  Rej^resentation  from  any 
State,  the  Executive  Authority  thereof  shall  issue  Writs  of 
Election  to  fill  such  Vacancies. 

The  House  of  Representatives  shall  choose  their  Speaker 
and  other  Officers;  and  shall  have  the  sole  Power  of  Im- 
peacliment. 

Section  3. 

The  Senate  of  the  United  States  shall  be  composed  of  two 
Senators  from  each  State,  chosen  by  the  Legislature  thereof, 
for  six  Years;  and  each  Senator  shall  have  one  Vote. 

Immediately  after  they  shall  be  assembled  in  Consequence 
of  the  first  Election,  they  shall  be  divided  as  equally  as  may 


180  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

be  into  three  Classes.  The  Seats  of  the  Senators  of  the  first 
Class  shall  be  vacated  at  the  Expiration  of  the  second  Yeai-, 
of  the  second  Class  at  the  Expiration  of  the  fourth  Year,  and 
of  the  third  class  at  the  Ex^^iration  of  the  sixth  Year;  so  that 
one-third  may  be  chosen  every  second  Year,  and  if  Vacancies 
happen  by  Resignation  or  otherwise,  during  the  Recess  of  the 
Legislature  of  any  State,  the  Executive  thereof  may  make 
temporary  Appointments  until  the  next  Meeting  of  the  Legis- 
lature, which  shall  then  fill  such  Vacancies. 

No  Person  shall  be  a  Senator  who  shall  not  have  attained 
to  the  Age  of  thirty  Years,  and  been  nine  Years  a  Citizen  of 
the  United  States,  and  who  shall  not,  when  elected,  be  an  In- 
habitant of  that  State  for  which  he  shall  be  chosen. 

The  Vice-President  of  the  United  States  shall  be  President 
of  the  Senate,  but  shall  have  no  Vote,  unless  they  be  equally 
divided. 

The  Senate  shall  chuse  their  other  Officers,  and  also  a 
President  pro  tempore  in  the  Absence  of  the  Vice-President, 
or  when  he  shall  exercise  the  Office  of  President  of  the 
United  States. 

The  Senate  shall  have  the  sole  Power  to  try  all  Imjieach- 
ments.  When  sitting  for  that  Purj)ose,  tliey  shall  be  on  Oath 
or  Affirmation.  When  the  Pi'esident  of  the  United  States  is 
tri('(I,  the  Chief-Justice  shall  preside:  And  no  Peison  shall 
be  convicted  Avithout  the  Concurrence  of  two-thiids  of  the 
Meml>ers  present. 

Judgment  in  Cases  of  Iiiipi'achnient  shall  not  extend  further 
ihan  to  removal  fi-oni  Ollicc,  and  dis(jnalitieation  to  hold  and 
enjoy  any  Ollic*'  of  hoiioi-,  Trust,  or  I'rofit  under  the  United 
States:  Ijut  the  Party  convicted  shall,  nevertheless,  be  liable 


THE  CONSTTTUTTON.  ISl 

and  subject  to  Indictment,  Trial,  Judgment  and  Punishment, 
according  to  Law. 

Section  4. 

The  Times,  Places  and  Manner  of  holding  Elections  for 
Senators  and  Representatives,  shall  be  prescribed  in  each 
State  by  the  Legislature  thereof;  but  the  Congress  may  at 
any  time  by  Law  make  or  alter  such  Regulations,  ex(^ept  as 
to  the  Places  of  choosing  Senators. 

The  Congress  shall  assemble  at  least  once  in  every  Year, 
and  such  Meeting  shall  be  on  the  first  Monday  in  December, 
unless  they  shall  by  Law  appoint  a  different  Day. 

Section  5. 

Each  House  shall  be  the  Judge  of  the  Elections,  Returns 
and  Qualifications  of  its  own  Members,  and  a  Majority  of  each 
shall  constitute  a  Quorum  to  do  Business;  but  a  smaller  Num- 
ber may  adjourn  from  day  to  day,  and  may  be  authorized  to 
compel  the  Attendance  of  absent  Members,  in  such  Manner, 
and  under  such  Penalties  as  each  House  may  provide. 

Each  House  inay  determine  the  Rules  of  its  Proceedings, 
punish  its  Members  for  disorderly  Behavior,  and.  Math  the 
Concurrence  of  two-thirds,  expel  a  Member. 

Each  House  shall  keep  a  Journal  of  its  Proceedings,  and 
from  time  to  time  publish  the  same,  excepting  such  Parts  as 
may  in  their  Judgment  require  Secrecy;  and  the  Yeas  and 
Nays  of  the  Members  of  either  House  on  any  question  shall, 
at  the  Desire  of  one-fifth  of  those  Present,  be  entered  on  the 
Journal. 

Neither  House,  during  the  Session  of  Congress,  shall,  with- 
out the  Consent  of  the  other,  adjourn  for  more  than  three 


182  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

day.s,  nor  to  any  other  Place  than  that  in  which  the  two 
Houses  shall  be  sitting. 

Section  6. 

The  Senators  and  Representatives  shall  receive  a  Compen- 
sation for  their  Services,  to  be  ascertained  by  Law,  and  paid 
out  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States.  They  shall  in  all 
Cases,  except  Treason,  Felony  and  Breach  of  the  Peace,  be 
privileged  from  Arrest  during  their  Attendance  at  the  Session 
of  their  respective  Houses,  and  in  going  to  and  returning 
from  the  same  ;  and  for  any  Speech  or  Debate  in  either  House, 
they  shall  not  be  questioned  in  any  other  Place. 

No  Senator  or  Representative  shall,  during  the  Time  for 
which  he  was  elected,  be  appointed  to  any  civil  Office  under 
the  Authorit}"  of  the  United  States,  which  shall  have  been 
created,  or  the  Emoluments  whereof  shall  have  been  increased 
during  such  time;  and  no  Person  holdingany  Office  under  the 
United  States,  shall  be  a  Member  of  either  House  during  his 
Continuance  in  Office. 

Section  7. 

All  Bills  for  raising  Revenue  shall  originate  in  the  House 
of  Rej^resentatives;  but  the  Senate  may  propose  or  concur 
Avith  Amendments  as  on  other  Uills. 

Every  Bill  which  shall  have  passed  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives and  the  Senate,  shall,  before  it  become  a  Law,  be 
presented  to  the  Prcsich'nt  of  the  United  States;  If  he  a])])rove 
he  sli:ill  sin'ii  il,  but  if  not  he  shall  return  it,  with  his  Ob- 
je(ttions,  to  that  House  in  wliicli  it  shall  liave  originated,  who 
shall  enter  the  Obj<'('tioiis  at  large  on  their  Journal,  and  pro- 
ceed to  reconsider  it.     If  after  such  Reconsideration  two- 


THE  CONSTITUTION.  183 

thirds  of  that  House  sliall  agree  to  pass  the  Bill,  it  shall  l>e 
sent,  together  Avith  the  Objections,  to  the  other  House,  by 
which  it  shall  likewise  be  reconsidered,  and  if  approved  by 
two-thirds  of  that  House,  it  shall  become  a  Law.  But  in  all 
such  Cases  the  Votes  of  both  Houses  shall  be  determined  by 
yeas  and  Nays,  and  the  Names  of  the  Persons  voting  for  and 
against  the  Bill  shall  be  entered  on  the  Journal  of  each  House 
respectively.  If  any  Bill  shall  not  be  returned  by  the  Presi- 
dent within  ten  Days  (Sundays  excepted)  after  it  shall  have 
been  presented  to  him,  tlie  same  shall  be  a  Law,  in  like  Manner 
as  if  he  had  signed  it,  unless  the  Congress  by  their  adjourn- 
ment prevent  its  Return,  in  which  Case  it  shall  not  be  a  Law. 
Every  Order,  Resolution,  or  Vote  to  which  the  Concurrence 
of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representativoe  may  be  necessary 
(except  on  a  case  of  Adjournment),  shall  be  presented  to  the 
President  of  the  LTnited  States;  and  before  the  Same  shall 
take  Effect,  shall  be  approved  by  him,  or  being  disap))roved 
by  him,  shall  bo  repassed  by  two-thirds  of  the  Senate  and 
House  of  Representatives,  according  to  the  Rules  and  Limita- 
tions prescribed  in  the  Case  of  a  Bill. 

Section  8. 

The  Congress  shall  have  Power  To  lay  and  collect  Taxes, 
Duties,  Imposts  and  Excises,  to  pay  the  Debts  and  provide 
for  the  common  Defence  and  general  Welfare  of  the  United 
States;  but  all  Duties,  Imposts  and  Excises  shall  be  uniform 
throughout  the  United  States; 

To  borrow  Money  on  the  credit  of  the  United  States; 

To  regulate  Commerce  with  foreign  Nations,  and  among 
the  several  States,  and  with  the  Indian  Tribes; 


184  THE  CnNSTITUTTON. 

To  establisli  a  unifoi-m  Rule  of  Naturalization,  and  uniform 
Laws  on  the  subject  of  Bankruptcies  throughout  the  United 
States; 

To  coin  Money,  regulate  the  Value  thereof,  and  of  foreign 
Coin,  and  fix  the  Standard  of  Weights  and  Measures ; 

To  provide  for  the  Punishment  of  counterfeiting  the  Se- 
curities and  current  Coin  of  the  United  States; 

To  establish  Post-OfRces  and  post-Roads; 

To  promote  the  Progress  of  Science  and  useful  Arts, 
by  securing  for  limited  Times  to  Authors  and  Inventors 
the  exclusive  Right  to  their  resijective  Writings  and  Dis- 
coveries; 

To  constitute  Tribunals  inferior  to  the  Supreme  Court; 

To  define  and  punish  Piracies  and  Felonies  committed  on 
the  high  Seas,  and  Offences  against  the  Law  of  Nations; 

To  declare  War,  grant  Letters  of  Marque  and  Reprisal, 
and  make  Rules  concerning  Captures  on  Laud  and  Water; 

To  raise  and  support  Armies,  but  no  A])pro]iriation  of 
Money  to  that  Use  shall  be  for  a  longer  Term  than  two 
Years; 

To  provide  and  maintain  a  Navy; 

To  make  Rules  for  the  Government  and  Regulation  of  the 
land  and  naval  Forces; 

To  jjrovide  for  calling  forth  the  Militia  to  execute  the 
Laws  of  the  Union,  suppress  Insui-rections  and  repel  Liva- 
Kions; 

To  provide  for  organizing,  arming,  and  disciplining  the 
Militia,  and  for  governing  su(;h  Part  of  them  as  maybe  em- 
ployed in  the  Service  of  the  United  States,  reserving  to  the 
States   respectively,   tlie  Appointment  of   the  Officers,  and 


THE  CONSTTTUTrOK  185 

the  authority  of  truiiuiig-  the  militia  according  to  the  disci- 
pline jirescribed  by  Congress; 

To  exercise  exchisive  Legislation  in  all  Cases  whatsoever, 
over  such  District  (not  exceeding  ten  Miles  square)  as  may, 
l)y  Cession  of  particular  States,  and  the  Acceptance  of  Con- 
gress, become  the  Seat  of  the  Government  of  the  United 
States,  and  to  exercise  like  Authority  over  all  Places  pur- 
chased by  the  Consent  of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  in 
wliich  the  Same  shall  be,  for  the  Erection  of  Forts,  Maga- 
zines, Arsenals,  Dock-Yards,  and  other  needful  Buildings; 
And 

To  make  all  Laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper 
for  carrying  into  Execution  the  foregoing  Powers,  and  all 
other  Powers  vested  by  this  Constitution  in  the  Government 
of  the  United  States,  or  in  any  Department  or  Officer  thereof . 

Section  9. 

The  Migration  or  Importation  of  such  Persons  as  any  of 
the  States  now  existing  shall  think  proper  to  admit,  shall 
not  be  prohibited  by  tlie  Congress  prior  to  the  Year  one, 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  eight,  but  a  Tax  or  duty  may 
be  imposed  on  such  Lnportation,  not  exceeding  ten  dollars 
for  each  Person. 

The  Privilege  of  the  Writ  of  Habeas  Corpus  shall  not  be 
suspended,  unless  when  in  Cases  of  Rebellion  or  Livasion  the 
public  Safety  may  require  it. 

No  Bill  of  Attainder,  or  ex  post  facto  Law  shall  be  passed. 

No  Capitation  or  other  direct  Tax  shall  be  laid,  unless  in 
Proportion  to  the  Census  or  Enumeration  herein  before 
directed  to  be  taken. 


186  THE  CONSTITUTION 

No  Tax  or  Duty  shall  be  laid  on  Articles  exported  from 
any  State. 

No  Preference  shall  be  given  by  any  Regulation  of  Cora- 
raerce  or  Revenue  to  the  Ports  of  one  State  over  those  of  an- 
other: nor  shall  vessels  bound  to,  or  from,  one  State,  be 
obliged  to  enter,  clear,  or  pay  Duties,  in  another. 

No  Money  shall  be  drawn  from  the  Treasury,  but  in  con- 
sequence of  Appropriations  made  by  Law;  and  a  regular 
Statement  and  Account  of  the  Receipts  and  Expenditures  of 
all  public  Money  shall  be  published  from  tinie  to  time. 

No  Title  of  Nobility  shall  be  granted  by  the  United 
States:  And  no  Person  holding  any  Office  of  Profit  or  Trust 
under  them,  shall,  without  the  Consent  of  the  Congress,  ac- 
cept of  any  present,  Emolument,  Office,  or  Title,  of  any  kind 
whatever,  from  any  King,  Prince,  or  foreign  State. 

Section  10. 

No  State  shall  enter  into  any  Treaty,  Alliance,  or  Con- 
federation; grant  Letters  of  Marque  and  Rei)risal;  coin 
Money;  emit  IjiUs  of  Credit;  make  any  Thing  but  gold 
and  silver  Coin  a  Tender  in  Payment  of  Debts;  pass  any 
Bill  of  Attainder,  ex  post  facto  Law,  or  Law  impairing  the 
Obligation  of  (Contracts,  or  grant  any  Title  of  Nobility. 

No  State  shall,  without  the  Consent  of  the  Congress,  lay 
any  Imposts  or  Duties  on  Imports  or  Exi)()rts,  except  what 
may  l)e  absolutely  necessary  for  executing  its  insjKH^t ion 
Laws:  ami  tlic  net  Product'  of  all  Duties  and  Imposts  laid 
by  any  State  on  Inijiorts  or  Ex])orts,  shall  be  for  the  Use  of 
the  Treasury  of  1  lie  United  States;  aiul  all  such  Laws  shall 
be  subject  to  the  Revision  and  Controul  of  the  Congress. 


THE  CONSTITUTION.  187 

No  State  shall,  without  the  Consent  of  Congress,  lay  any 
Duty  or  Tonnage,  keep  Troops,  or  Sliips  of  War,  in  time  of 
Peace,  enter  into  any  Agreement  or  Compact  with  another 
State,  or  with  a  foreign  Power,  or  engage  in  War,  unless 
actually  invaded,  or  in  such  imminent  Danger  as  will  not 
admit  of  delay. 

ARTICLE   II. 

Se(;tion"  1. 

The  Executive  Power  shall  be  vested  in  a  President  of  the 
United  States  of  America.  He  shall  hold  his  office  during 
the  Term  of  four  Years,  and  together  with  the  Vice-Presi- 
dent, chosen  for  the  same  Term,  be  elected  as  follows: 

Each  State  shall  aj)point,  in  such  manner  as  the  Legisla- 
ture thereof  may  direct,  a  Number  of  Electors,  equal  to  the 
whole  Number  of  Senators  and  Representatives  to  which 
the  State  may  be  entitled  in  the  Congress;  but  no  Senator 
or  Representative,  or  Person  holding  an  Office  of  Trust  or 
Profit  under  the  LTnited  States,  shall  be  appointed  an 
Elector. 

*The  Electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  States,  and 

*  This  clause  has  been  amended  and  superseded  by  tlie  Twelfth  Amend- 
ment to  the  Constitution.  By  the  provisions  of  the  original  clause  the  per- 
son in  the  electoral  college  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  (provided 
he  had  a  majority  of  the  whole  number  of  electors  appointed)  became 
President,  and  the  person  having  the  next  greatest  number  of  votes  became 
Vice-President,  thus  giving  the  Presidency  to  one  political  party  and  the 
Vice-Presidency  to  another.  In  the  year  1800  the  Democratic  Republicans 
determined  to  elect  Thomas  Jcflferson,  President,  and  Aaron  Burr,  Vice- 
President.  The  result  was  tliat  each  secured  an  eqtial  numberof  votes,  and 
neitlier  was  elected.  The  Constitution  then,  as  now,  provided  that  in  case 
tiie  electoral  college  failed  to  elect  a  President,  the  House  of  Representa- 


755  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

vote  by  Ballot  for  two  Persons,  ol'  whom  one  at  least  shall 
not  be  an  Inhabitant  of  the  same  State  with  themselves. 
And  they  shall  make  a  List  of  all  the  Persons  voted  for,  and 
of  the  Number  of  Votes  for  each;  which  List  they  sign  and 
certify,  and  transmit  sealed  to  the  Seat  of  the  Government 
of  the  United  States,  directed  to  the  President  of  the  Sen- 
ate. The  President  of  the  Senate  shall,  in  the  presence  of 
the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives,  open  all  the  Cer- 
tificates and  the  Votes  shall  then  be  counted.  Tlie  Person 
having  the  greatest  Number  of  Votes  shall  be  the  President, 
if  such  Number  be  a  majority  of  the  whole  Number  of  Elect- 
ors appointed;  and  if  there  be  more  than  one  who  have 
such  a  Majority,  and  have  an  equal  Number  of  Votes,  then 
the  House  of  Representatives  shall  immediately  chuse,  by 
Ballot,  one  of  them  for  President;  and  if  no  Person  have  a 
Majority,  then  from  the  five  highest  on  the  List,  the  said 
House  shall  in  like  manner  chuse  the  President.  But  in 
chusing  the  President,  the  Votes  shall  be  taken  by  States, 
the  Representation  from"  each  State  having  one  vote ;  a 
quorum  for  this  purpose  shall  consist  of  a  Member  or  Mem- 
bers from  two-thirds  of  the  States,  and  a  Majority  of    all 

tives,  votinf^  as  Stales,  should  elect.  The  Federalists  distrusted  and  dis- 
liked Jefferson ;  the  Democratic  Republicans  and  some  of  the  Federalists 
distrusted  and  disliked  Burr.  The  vote  in  the  House  on  tlie  thirty-sixth 
b;illot  gave  tlie  Presidency  to  Jefferson  and  the  Vice-Presidency  to  Burr. 
In  order  to  prevent  a  repetition  of  so  dangerous  a  struggle,  the  Twelfth 
Amendment,  by  wliich  the  electoral  votes  are  cast  separately  for  tlic  can- 
didates for  President  and  for  Vice-President,  was  proposed  by  Congress 
December  12,  1803,  and  declared  in  force  September  25,  1804.  Since  that 
time  tlie  electoral  college  lias  been  constituted  as  at  present,  with  an  odd 
luunber  of  votes;  a  tie  vote  in  tiio  college  isimpossilile. — The  Government  of 
the  J'eojile  vftUe  United  States,  Thorpe,  p<ige  272. 


THE  CONSTITUTION.  189- 

the  States  shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice.  In  every  Case, 
after  the  Choice  of  the  President,  the  Person  having  the 
greatest  Number  of  Votes  of  the  Electors  shall  be  the  Vice- 
President.  But  if  tliere  should  remain  tAvo  or  more  who 
have  equal  Votes,  the  Senate  shall  chuse  from  them,  by  Bal- 
lot the  Vice-President. 

The  Congress  may  determine  the  Time  of  chiising  the 
Electors,  and  the  Day  on  which  they  shall  give  their  Votes; 
which  Day  shall  be  the  same  throughout  the  United  States, 

No  Person  except  a  natural-born  Citizen,  or  a  Citizen  of 
the  United  States,  at  the  time  of  the  Adoption  of  this  Con- 
stitution, shall  be  eligible  to  the  Office  of  President;  neither 
shall  any  Person  be  eligible  to  that  Office  who  shall  not  have 
attained  to  the  Age  of  thirty-five  Years,  and  been  fourteen 
Years  a  Resident  within  the  United  States, 

In  Case  of  the  Removal  of  the  President  from  Office,  or 
of  his  Death,  Resignation,  or  Inability  to  discharge  the 
Powers  and  Duties  of  the  said  Office,  the  Same  shall  devolve 
on  the  Vice-President,  and  the  Congress  may  by  Law  pro- 
vide for  the  Case  of  Removal,  Death,  Resignation,  or  In- 
ability both  of  the  President  and  Vice-President,  declaring 
what  Officer  shall  then  act  as  President,  and  such  Officer 
shall  act  accordingly,  until  the  Disability  be  removed,  ur  a 
President  shall  be  elected. 

The  President  shall,  at  stated  Times,  receive  for  his  Serv- 
ices, a  Compensation,  which  shall  neither  be  increased  nur 
diminished  during  the  Period  for  which  he  shall  have  been 
elected,  and  he  shall  not  receive  within  that  Period,  any 
other  Emolument  from  the  United  States,  or  any  of  them. 

Before  he  enter  on  the  Execution  of  his  Office  he  shall 


■  190  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

take  the  fullowiiig  Oath  or  Affirination: — "I  do  solemnly 
swear  (or  attiriii)  tliat  I  will  faithfully  execute  the  Offic^e  of 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  will,  to  the  best  of  my 
Ability,  preserve,  protect,  and  defend  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States." 

Section  2. 

The  President  shall  be  Comraander-iu-Chief  of  the  Ai'my 
and  Navy  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  ^Militia  of  the 
several  States,  Avheu  called  into  the  actual  Service  of  the 
United  States;  he  may  require  the  Opinion,  in  Avritin<,^,  of 
the  principal  Officer  in  each  of  the  executive  Departments, 
u})on  any  Subject  relating  to  the  Duties  of  their  respective 
Offices,  and  he  shall  have  Power  to  grant  Reprieves  and 
Pardons  for  Offences  against  the  United  States,  except  in 
Cases  of  Impeachment. 

lie  shall  have  Power,  l)y  and  with  the  Advice  and  Consent 
of  the  Senate,  to  make  Treaties,  provided  two-thirds  of  the 
Senators  present  concur  ;  and  he  shall  nominate,  and  by  and 
with  the  Advice  and  Consent  of  the  Senate,  shall  appoint 
Ambassadors,  other  public  Ministers, -and  Consuls,  Judges  of 
the  supreme  Court,  and  all  other  Officers  of  the  United 
States,  wliose  Appointments  are  not  herein  otherwise  provided 
foi',  and  which  shall  be  established  l)y  Law:  but  the  Ccjngress 
may  by  Law  vest  the  Appointment  of  such  inferior  Officei-s, 
as  they  think  projx-r,  in  the  President  alone,  in  the  Courts  of 
Law,  or  in  tlu'  llt-ads  of  Departments. 

The  PiH'sident  sliall  have  Pow  t-i-  to  lill  up  all  A'acaiicies 
that  may  happen  dui-ing  the  Pi'cess  of  the  Senate,  by  grant- 
ing Coimnissions  Avhich  shall  exi)ire  at  the  End  of  the  next 
Session. 


THE  CONSTITUTION.  •  191 

Section  3. 

He  shiill  Iroiii  time  to  time  give  to  tlie  Congress  Iiifov- 
mation  of  the  State  of  tlie  Union,  and  recommend  to  their 
Considei'ation  such  Measures  as  he  shall  judge  neeessary  and 
expedient ;  he  may,  on  extraordinary  Occasions,  convene 
both  Houses,  or  either  of  them,  and  in  Case  of  Disagreement 
between  them,  Avith  Respect  to  (he  time  of  ^Vdjournment,  he 
may  adjourn  them  to  such  Time  as  he  shall  think  proper; 
he  shall  receive  Ambassadors  and  other  public  Ministers; 
he  shall  take  Care  that  the  Laws  be  faithfully  executed, 
and  shall  commission  all  the  Officers  of  the  United 
States. 

SECTiOisr  4. 

The  President,  Vice-President,  and  all  civil  Officers  of  the 
United  States,  shall  be  removed  from  Office  on  Impeachment 
for,  and  Conviction  of,  Treason,  Bribery,  or  other  high 
Crimes  and  Misdemeanors. 


ARTICLE   HI. 

Section  1. 
The  judicial  Power  of  the  United  States  shall  be  vested 
in  one  supreme  Court,  and  in  such  inferior  Courts  as  the 
Congress  may,  from  time  to  time,  ordain  and  establish. 
The  Judges,  both  of  the  supreme  and  inferior  Courts, 
shall  hold  their  Offices  during  good  Behavior,  and  shall, 
at  stated  Times,  receive  for , their  Services  a  Compensa- 
tion, which  shall  not  be  diminished  during  their  Continuance 
in  Office. 


192  .  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

Section  2. 

The  judicial  Power  shall  extend  to  all  Cases,  in  Law  and 
Equity,  arising  under  this  Constitution,  the  Laws  of  the 
United  States,  and  Treaties  made,  or  which  shall  be  made, 
under  their  Authority ; — to  all  Cases  affecting  Ambassadors, 
other  public  Ministers,  and  Consuls; — to  all  Cases  of  admi- 
ralty and  maritime  Jurisdiction; — to  Controversies  to  which 
the  United  States  shall  be  a  party; — to  Con.troversies  be- 
tween two  or  more  States; — between  a  State  and  Citizens  of 
another  State; — between  Citizens  of  different  States, — be- 
tween Citizens  of  the  same  State; — claiming  Lands  under 
Grants  of  different  States,  and  between  a  State,  or  the  Citi- 
zens thereof,  and  foreign  States,  Citizens,  or  Subjects. 

In  all  Cases  affecting  Ambassadors,  other  public  Ministers, 
and  Consuls,  and  those  in  which  a  State  shall  be  a  Party,  the 
supreme  Court  shall  have  original  Jurisdiction.  In  all  the 
other  Cases  before  mentioned  the  supreme  Court  shall  have 
appellate  Jurisdiction,  both  as  to  Law  and  Fact,  with  such 
Exceptions,  and  under  such  Regulations,  as  the  Congress 
shall  make. 

The  Trial  of  all  Crimes,  except  in  Cases  of  Impeachment, 

shall  be  by  Jury;  and  such  Trial  shall  be  held  in  the  State 

where   the  said    Crimes    shall    have  been    committed ;    but 

wlien  not  committed  within   any  State,  the  Trial   shall  be  at 

such  Place,  or  Places,  as  the  Congress  may  by  Law  have 

directed. 

Section  3. 

Treason  against  the  United  States  shall  consist  oidy  in 
levying  War  against  them,  or  in  adhering  to  their  Enemies, 
giving  them  Aid  and  Comfort.      No  Person  shall  be  con- 


TUE  CONSTITUTION.  193 

victed  of  Treason  unless  on  the  Testimony  of  two  Witnesses 
to  the  same  overt  Act,  or  on  Confession  in  open  Court. 

The  Congress  shall  have  Power  to  declare  the  Punishment 
of  Treason,  but  no  Attainder  of  Treason  shall  work  Corrui)- 
tion  of  Blood,  or  Forfeiture,  except  during  the  Life  of  the 
Person  attainted. 


ARTICLE  IV. 

Section  1. 
Full  Faith  and  Credit  shall  be  given  in  each  State  to  the 
public  Acts,  Records,  and  judicial  Proceedings  of  every 
other  State.  And  the  Congress  may  by  general  Laws  pre- 
scribe the  Manner  in  which  sucli  Acts,  Records,  and  Pro- 
ceedings shall, be  proved  and  the  Effect  thereof. 

Section  2. 

The  Citizens  of  each  State  shall  be  entitled  to  all  Privi- 
leges and  Immunities  of  Citizens  in  the  several  States. 

A  Person  charged  in  any  State  with  Treason,  Felony,  or 
other  Crime,  who  shall  flee  from  Justice,  and  be  found  in 
another  State,  shall  on  Demand  of  the  executive  Authority 
of  the  State  from  which  he  fled,  be  delivered  up  to  be  re- 
moved to  the  State  having  Jurisdiction  of  the  crime. 

No  Person  held  to  Service  or  Labour  in  one  State,  under 
the  Laws  thereof,  escaping  into  another,  shall,  in  Conse- 
quence of  any  Law  or  Regulation  therein,  be  discharged  from 
such  Service  or  Labour,  but  shall  be  delivered  uj)  on  Claim 
of  the  Party  to  whom  such  Service  or  Labour  may  be  due.* 

*  The  Underground  Eailroad. — Before  the  abolition  of  slavery  a  sys- 
tem of  aidiug  runaway  slaves  to  reach  Canada  was  perfected  in  various 
13 


194  TEE  CONSTITUTION. 

Section  3. 

New  States  may  be  admitted  by  the  Congress  into  this 
Union  ;  but  no  new  State  shall  be  formed  or  erected  within 
the  Jurisdiction  of  any  other  State;  nor  any  State  be  formed 
by  the  Junction  of  two  or  more  States,  or  Parts  of  States, 
M'ithout  the  Consent  of  the  Legislatures  of  the  States  con- 
cerned, as  well  as  of  the  Congress. 

The  Congress  shall  have  Power  to  dispose  of  and  make  all 
needful  Rules  and  Regulations  respecting  the  Territory  or 
other  Property  belonging  to  the  United  States;  and  nothing 
in  this  Constitution  shall  be  so  construed  as  to  Prejudice  any 
Claims  of  the  United  States,  or  of  any  particular  States. 

Section  4. 
The  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  State  in  this 
Union  a  Republican  Form  of  Government,  and  shall  protect 
each  of  them  against  Invasion  ;  and  on  Application  of  the 
Legislature,  or  of  the  Executive  (when  the  Legislature  can- 
not be  convened)  against  domestic  Violence. 


ARTICLE  V. 

The  Congress,  Avhenever  two-thirds  of  both  Houses  shall 
deem  it  necessary,  sliull  propose  ^Amendments  tt)  this  Con- 
stitution, or,  on  the  iVp[)licatioii  of  (he  Legislatures  of  two- 
parts  of  the  coniilry.  From  diltbrcnt  points  on  tlio  C:uuidi;iu  frontier  to  Uie 
HoMlherii  Stales  were  secret  routes,  along  wliicli,  generally  by  niglit,  slaves 
were  lielped  to  freedom  by  persons  opposed  to  slavery.  The  whole  move- 
ment was  unlawful  at  the  time,  and  was  popularly  known  as  the  "  Under- 
ground Railroad."  A  slave  reaching  British  soil  instantly  became  free. 
—  The  Governineid  of  the  Peojde  of  the  United  States,  p.  277. 


THE  GONSTITUTIOK  195 

thirds  of  the  several  States,  shall  call  a  Convention  for  pro- 
posing Amendments,  which,  in  either  Case,  shall  be  valid  to 
all  Intents  and  Purposes,  as  Part  of  this  Constitution,  when 
ratified  hy  the  Legislatures  of  three  fourths  of  the  several 
States,  or  by  Conventions  in  three  fourths  thereof,  as  the 
one  or  the  other  Mode  of  Ratification  may  be  proposed  by 
the  Congress  ;  Provided,  that  no  Amendment,  which  may 
be  made  prior  to  the  Year  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
eight  shall  in  any  Manner  affect  the  first  and  fourth  clauses 
in  the  Ninth  Section  of  the  first  Article;  and  that  no  State, 
without  its  consent,  shall  be  deprived  of  its  equal  Suffrage 
in  the  Senate. 


ARTICLE  VL 

All  Debts  contracted,  and  Engagements  entered  into, 
before  the  Adoption  of  this  Constitution,  shall  be  as  valid 
against  the  United  States  nnder  this  Constitution,  as  under 
the  Confederation. 

This  Constitution,  and  the  Laws  of  the  United  States 
which  shall  be  made  in  Pursuance  thereof;  and  all  Treaties 
made,  or  which  shall  be  made,  under  the  Authority  of  the 
United  States,  shall  be  the  supreme  Law  of  the  land;  and 
the  Judges  in  every  State  shall  be  bound  thereby,  any  Thing 
in  the  Constitution  or  Laws  of  any  State  to  the  Contrary 
notwithstanding. 

The  Senators  and  Rejiresentatives  before  mentioned,  and 
the  Members  of  the  several  State  legislatures,  and  all  execu- 
tive and  judicial  Officers,  both  of  the  United  States, -and  of 
the  several  States,  shall  be  bound  by  Oatli  or  Affirmation, 


196  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

to  sui(j)ort  this  Constitution;  but  no  religious  Test  shall  ever 
be  required  as  a  Qualification  to  any  Office  or  public  Trust 
under  the  United  States, 


ARTICLE  VII. 

The  Ratification  of  the  Conventions  of  nine  States,  shall 
be  sufficient  for  the  Establishment  of  this  Constitution  be- 
tween the  States  so  ratifying  the  Same. 

Done  in  Convention  by  the  Unanimous  Consent  of  the 
States  present  the  Seventeenth  Day  of  September  in  the 
Year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty- 
seven  and  of  the  Indejiendence  of  the  United  States  of 
America  the  twelfth. 

Ill  Witness  Avhereof  A\"e  ]ia\e  hereunto  subscribed  our 
Xames.  George   Washington,  President, 

And  Bejmfij  from  Virginia. 

The  Word  "  the  "  being  inter-lined  between  the  seventh 
and  eighth  Lines  of  the  first  Page,  The  Word  "Thirty" 
being  partly  written  on  an  Erazure  in  the  fifteenth  Line  of 
the  fir^,t  rage,  The  Words  "is  tried"  being  inter-lined  be- 
tween the  thirty  second  and  thirty  third  Lines  of  the  first 
Patre  and  the  word  "the"  being  intei--lined  between  the 
forty  third  and  forty  fourth  Lines  of  the  second  Page. 

Attesl,  William  Jaoksox,  /Secretari/. 

NHW    UAMrsinUE.  CONNECTICUT. 

Joliii  Laii):;doii,  AVm.  Sani'l  Jolmsoii, 

Nicholas  Gilmaii.  Roger  Shcriiuui. 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

Nailiaiiiol  Gorlmm,  NEW  york. 

Ilufii3  Kiiiy.  Alo.\andor  Hainiltou. 


rilE  CONSTITUTION. 


19] 


NKW  JERSEY. 

Will.  Liviiigalon, 
David  Brearley, 
Wm.  Patersoii, 
Jona.  Daj'ton. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

B.  Franklin, 
Tiioin.-is  MilUin, 
Rob.  Morris, 
Geo.  Clj'mer, 
Thos.  Fitzsiinons. 
.Tared  Ingersoll, 
James  Wilson, 
Gouv.  Morris. 

DELAWARE. 

Geo.  Read, 

frunning  Bedford,  Jr., 
John  Dickinson, 
Richard  Bassett, 
Jacob  Broom, 
James  McHenry. 


MAKVLA.NI). 

Dan  of  St.  Thos.  Jenifer, 
Dan.  Carroll. 

VlIlfilNIA. 

John  Blair, 
James  Madison,  Jr. 

NORTH    CAROLINA. 

Wm.  Blount, 

Richard  Dobbs  Spaight, 

H.  Williunisoii. 

SOUTH    CAROLINA. 

J.  Rntledge, 

Charles  Cotesworth  Pincknej', 

Charles  Pinckney, 

Pierce  Butler. 

GEORGIA. 

William  Few, 
Abr.  Baldwin. 


In  Contention,  Monday,  Si-jiftmhi-r  17,  nsT. 
Present 
The  States  of 
New  Hampsliire,  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  Mr.  Hamilton 
from  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Delaware,  Mary- 
land, Virginia,  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia. 
Resolved,  That  the  preceding  Constitution  be  laid  before 
the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled,  and  that  it  is  the 
Opinion  of   the  Convention,  that   it   should  afterwards  be 
submitted  to   a  Convention    of  Delegates,   chosen   in    each 
State  by  the  People  thereof;  lander  the  Recommendation  of 
the  Legislature,  for  their  Assent  and  Ratification;  and  that 
each  Convention  assenting  to,  and  ratifying  the  same,  should 
give  Notice  thereof  to  the  United  States  in  Congress  as- 
sembled. 


198  THE  CONSTITUTIOK 

Resolved,  That  it  is  Opinion  of  tliis  Convention  that  as 
soon  as  the  Conventions  of  nine  States  shall  have  ratified 
this  Constitution,  the  United  States  in  Congress  asseniljled 
should  fix  a  Day  on  which  Electors  should  be  appointed  ])y 
the  States  which  shall  have  ratified  the  same,  and  a  day  on 
whicli  the  Electors  should  assemble  to  vote  for  the  President, 
and  the  Time  and  Place  for  commencing  Proceedings  under 
this  Constitution.  Tliat  after  such  Publication  the  Electors 
should  be  appointed  and  the  Senators  and  Representatives 
elected  :  Tliat  the  Electors  should  meet  on  the  Day  fixed 
for  the  Election  of  the  President,  and  should  transmit  their 
Votes  certified,  signed,  sealed  and  directed,  as  the  Constitu- 
tion requires,  to  the  Secretary  of  the  United  States  in  Con- 
gress assembled,  that  the  Senators  and  Representatives 
should  convene  at  the  Time  and  Place  assigned;  that  the 
Senators  should  appoint  a  President  of  the  Senate  for  the 
sole  Purpose  of  receiving,  opening  and  counting  the  Votes 
for  President;  and,  that  after  he  shall  be  chosen,  the  Con- 
gress, together  with  the  President,  should,  without  dela}', 
proceed  to  execute  this  Constitution. 

B}^  the  unanimous  Order  of  the  Convention, 

Georgk  Washington,  President. 

W.  Jackson,  ^Secretary. 


THE  CONSTITUriOK  199 


ARTICLES  IN  ADDITION  TO,  AND  AMENDMENT  OF,  THE  CONSTI- 
TUTION  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA.* 

Article  1. 
Congress  sliall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establisliment 
of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof,  or 
abridging  the  freedom  of  speech,  or  of  the  jiress;  or  tlie  right 
of  the  people  peaceably  to  assembh>,  and  to  petition  the  Gov- 
ernment for  a  redress  of  grievances. 

Article  2. 

A  well-regulated  militia  being  necessary  to  the  security  of 

a  free  State,  the  right  of  the  peo})le  to  keep  and  bear  arms 

shall  not  be  infringed. 

Article  3. 

No  soldier  shall,  in   time  of  peace,  be  quartered  in  any 

house  without  the  consent  of  the  owner;  nor,  in  time  of  war, 

but  in  a  manner  to  be  prescribed  by  law; 

Article  4. 
The    right  of  the   people   to  be  secure  in  their    persons, 
houses,  papers,  and  effects,  against  unreasonable  searches  and 
seizures,  shall  not  be   violated;  and  no  warrants  shall   issue, 

*  Proposed  by  Congress  and  ratified  by  the  legislatures  of  the  several 
States,  pursuant  to  the  fiftii  Article  of  the  original  Constitution. 

More  than  seven  hundred  amendments  to  the  Constitution  have  been 
proposed  since  it  was  adopted.  Several  are  usually  proposed  at  each  session 
of  Congress. 

The  first  twelve  articles  of  .nmcndment  to  the  Federal  Constitution  were 
adopted  so  soon  after  tlie  original  organization  of  the  Government  under  it 
in  1789  as  to  justify  the  statement  that  they  were  practically  contempo- 
raneous with  the  adoption  of  the  original  (Justice  Mii.leu,  United  States 
Supreme   Court.) — The  Government  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,  t^.  280. 


200  THE  CONSTITUTION. 

but  upon  probable  cause,  snpporled  by  oath  or  affirniation, 
and  i:)articularly  describing  the  i^lace  to  be  searched,  and  tlie 
persons  or  things  to  be  seized. 

Article  5. 
No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a  capital  or  other- 
wise infamous  crime,  unless  on  a  presentment  or  indictment 
of  a  grand  juiy,  excejDt  in  cases  arising  in  the  land  or  naval 
forces,  or  in  the  militia,  when  in  actual  service,  in  time  of 
"war,  or  public  danger;  nor  shall  any  person  be  subject,  for 
the  same  offence,  to  be  twice  put  in  jeopardy  of  life  or  limb; 
nor  shall  be  compelled  in  any 'criminal  case  to  be  a  witness 
against  himself,  nor  be  deprived  of  life,  liberty,  or  pi-operty, 
"without  due  process  of  law;  nor  shall  private  property  be 
taken  for  public  use  Avithout  just  compensation. 

Article  6. 
In  all  criminal  prosecutions  the  accused  shall  enjoy  the 
right  to  a  speedy  and  public  trial,  by  an  impartial  jury  of 
the  State  and  district  Avherein  the  crime  shall  have  been  com- 
mitted, Avhich  district  shall  have  been  previously  ascertained 
by  law,  and  to  be  informed  of  the  nature  and  cause  of  the 
accusation;  to  be  confronted  with  the  witnesses  against  him; 
to  have  compulsory  process  for  obtaining  witnesses  in  his 
favor;  and  to  have  the  assistance  of  counsel  for  his  defence. 

Article  7. 
Til  suits  at  common  law  where  the  value  in  controversy 
shall  exceed  twenty  dollars  the  right  of  trial  by  jury  shall  be 
])reserved;  and  no  fact,  tried  by  a  jury,  shall  be  otherwise 
re-examiiic(l  in  any  couit,  of  the  TTnited  States,  than  accord- 
iiiLC  1')  ihc  rules  of  the  common  law. 


THE  CONSTITUTION.  201 

AllTICI.K    8. 

Excessive  bail  sliall  not  bo  required,  nor  excessive  fines 
imposed,  nor  cruel  and  xunisual  2>iinisliments  inflicted. 

Article  9. 

The  enumeration  in  tbe  Constitution  of  certain  rigbls  shall 

not  be  construed  to  deny  or  dis2)aragc  others  retained  by  tlie 

people. 

Article  10. 

The   powers   not   delegated  to  the  United   Slates  by  the 

Constitution,  nor  jtrohibited  by  it  to  tlie  States,  are  reserved 

to  the  States  respectively,  or  to  the  people. 

Article  11. 
The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  shall  not  be  con- 
strued to  extend  to  any  suit  in  law  or  equity,  commenced  or 
prosecuted   against  one  of  the  United  States  by  citizens  of 
another   State,   or  by  citizens   or   subjects   of   any  foreign 

State.* 

Article  12. 

The  Electors  shall  meet  in  their  respective  States  and  vote 

by  ballot  for  President  and  Vice-President,  one  of  whom  at 

least,  shall  not  be   an   inhabitant   of  the  same  State   witli 

themselves;  they  shall  name  in  their  ballots  the  person  voted 

*In  the  case  of  Chisholm  vs.  The  State  of  Georgia  the  Supreme  Court  de- 
cided that  under  Article  III,  §  2,  of  the  Constitution  a  private  citizen  of  a 
State  might  bring  suit  against  a  State  other  than  the  one  of  which  lie  was  a 
citizen.  This  decision,  hj  which  a  State  miglit  be  brought  as  defendant 
before  the  bar  of  a  Federal  court,  was  highly  displeasing  to  a  majority  of 
the  States  in  1794.  On  the  5th  of  March  of  that  year  the  Eleventh  Amend- 
ment was  passed  by  two-thirds  of  both  houses  of  Congress,  and  declared 
in  force  January  8,  1798.  Practically,  the  amendment  has  been  the  au- 
thority for  the  repudiation  of  debts  by  several  States. — The  Govermnent  oj 
the  Pvople  of  the  United  States,  p.  282. 


202  THE  CONSTITUTIOK 

for  as  President,  and  in  distinct  ballots  the  person  voted  for 
as  Vice-Preside: it;  and  they  shall  make  distinct  lists  of  all 
j^ersons  voted  for  as  President,  and  of  all  persons  voted  for 
as  Vice-President,  and  of  the  number  of  votes  for  each,  which 
lists  they  shall  sign,  and  certify,  and  transmit,  sealed,  to  the 
seat  of  government  of  the  United  States,  directed  to  the 
President  of  the  Senate;  the  President  of  the  Senate  shall, 
in  the  pi'csence  of  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives, 
open  all  the  certificates,  and  the  votes  shall  then  be  counted; 
the  person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  for  Presi- 
dent shall  be  the  President,  if  such  number  be  a  majority  of 
the  whole  number  of  Electors  appointed;  and  if  no  person 
have  such  majority,  then,  from  the  persons  having  the  highest 
numbers,  not  exceeding  three,  on  the  list  of  those  voted  for 
as  President,  the  House  of  Representatives  shall  choose  im- 
mediately, by  ballot,  tlie  President,  But  in  choosing  the 
President  the  votes  shall  be  taken  by  States,  the  representa- 
tion from  each  State  having  one  vote;  a  quorum  for  this  pur- 
pose shall  consist  of  a  member  or  members  from  two-thirds 
of  the  States,  and  a  majority  of  all  the  States  shall  be  neces- 
sary to  a  choice.  And  if  the  House  of  Representatives  shall 
not  choose  a  President,  whenever  the  right  to  choose  shall 
devolve  upon  them,  before  the  4th  day  of  IVIarch  next  fol- 
lowing, then  th(>  Vice-President  shall  act  as  President,  and 
in  case  C)f  the  death,  or  other  constitutional  disability,  of  the 
Prcsidctit. 

'^riic  person  having  the  greatest  number  of  votes  as  Vice- 
President  shall  be  th(>  Vice-President,  if  such  number  be  a 
majority  of  the  whole  innnber  of  l^'lccloi-s  appointed;  and  if 
no  person  have  a  majority,  tlieii,  from  tiie  two  highest  num- 


THE  CONSTITUTION.  -203 

bers  on  tlie  list,  the  Senate  sliall  choose  the  Vice-President; 

a  quonini  for  the  purpose  shall  consist  of  two-thirds  of  the 

whole  number  of  Senators;  a  majority  of  the  whole  number 

shall  be  necessary  to  a  choice. 

But  no   person  constitutionally  ineligible   to  the   office   of 

President,  shall  be  eligible  to  that  of  Vice-President  of  the 

United  States. 

Article  13. 

Neither  slavery  nor  involuntary  servitude,  except  as  a 
punishment  for  crime,  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly 
convicted,  shall  exist  within  the  TJnitod  States  or  anj^  place 
subject  to  their  jurisdiction. 

.  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this  article  by  appro- 
priate legislation.* 

AUTIOLE    14. 

All  ])orsons  born  or  naturalized  in  the  United  States,  and 
subject  to  the  jurisdiction  thereof,  are  citizens  of  the  United 
States  and  of  the  State  Avherein  they  reside.  No  State  shall 
make  or  enforce  any  law  Avhich  shall  abridge  the  jirivileges 
or  immunities  of  citizens  of  the  United  States;  nor  shall  any 
State  deprive  any  person  of  life,  liberty,  or  property  without 
due  process  of  law,  nor  deny  to  any  person  Avithiii  its  juris- 
diction the  equal  protection  of  the  laws,  f 

*TIie  Emancipation  rroclamation  and  the  events  of  the  Civil  War  led  to 
the  adoption  of  the  Thirteenth  Amendment.  Its  language  is  substantially 
the  samp  as  that  used  in  the  celebrated  ordinance  of  1787.  It  was  proposed 
April  8,  18ri4,  and  proclaimed  in  force  December  18,  18G5. 

f  The  events  of  the  Civil  AVar  (1801-6.'))  made  necessary  an  entire  recon- 
struction of  political  society  in  tlie  United  States,  to  accord  with  the  new 
conditions  produced  by  the  abolition  of  slaverj'.  The  object  of  the  amend- 
ment was  to  confer  citizensliip  upon  negroes,  and  to  make  it  an  object  to 
all  the  States  to  recognize  and  fiu-ther  this  right.     It  was  proposed  June  8, 


204  THE  COySTITUTWM 

Rejjresentativcs  shall  be  ajipoi-tioned  among  the  several 
States  according  to  their  respective  numbers,  counting  the 
whole  number  of  persons  in  each  State,  excluding  Indians  not 
taxed.  But  when  the  right  to  A'ote  at  any  election  for  the 
choice  of  Electors  for  President  and  Vice-President  of  the 
United  States,  Representatives  in  Congress,  the  executive 
and  judicial  officers  of  a  State,  or  the  members  of  the  Legis- 
lature thereof,  is  denied  to  any  of  the  male  inhabitants  of 
such  State,  being  twenty-one  years  of  age,  and  citizens  of 
the  United  States,  or  in  any  way  abridged,  excejDt  for  par- 
ti(;ipation  in  rebellion  or  other  crime,  the  basis  of  rei»re8enla- 
tion  therein  shall  be  reduced  in  the  proportion  which  the 
number  of  such  male  citizens  shall  bear  to  the  whole  number 
of  male  citizens,  twenty-one  years  of  age,  in  such  State. 

No  person  shall  l)e  a  Senator  or  Representative  in  Con- 
gress, or  Elector  of  President  and  Vice-President,  or  hold 
any  office,  civil  or  military,  under  the  United  States,  or  un- 
der any  State,  who,  having  previously  taken  an  oath  as  a 
member  of  Congress,  or  as  an  officer  of  the  United  States,  or 
as  a  member  of  any  State  Legislature,  or  as  an  executive  or 
judicial  officer  of  any  State,  to  supj)ort  the  Constitution  of 
the  United  States,  shall  have  engaged  in  iiisuri-ection  or  re- 
bellion against  the  same,  or  given  aid  or  comfort  to  the  ene- 
mies thereof.  But  Congress  may,  by  a  vote  of  two-thirds  of 
each  House,  remove  such  disability. 

'i'lic  validity  of  the  public  debt  of  the  Tl^nited  States,  au- 

185G,  and  declared  in  force  July  28,  18G8.  Tlie  amendment  is  especially  il- 
lustrative of  the  "  reconstruction  "  ideas  in  force  after  tlie  war.  The  amitid- 
niftnt  made  the  people  of  iho  colored  race  citizens  of  the  United  States,  .uid 
(•(iiircin-<l  upon  them  the  ofjual  jjroteciion  of  tiie  laws.  —  TJie   Govenuiicnl  uf 

thr  I'mj./r  <,/ l/ir   Unikd  Sliltrs,  p.   'JSl. 


THE  C()NST[TUTI0K  205 

thorlzod  by  law,  including  debts  incurred  for  payment  of 
pensions  and  bounties  for  services  in  suppressing  insurrection 
or  rebellion,  sliall  not  be  questioned.  But  neither  the  United 
States  nor  any  State  shall  assume  or  pay  any  debt  or  obligation 
incurred  in  aid  of  insurrection  or  rebellion  against  the  United 
States,  or  any  claim  for  the  loss  or  emancipation  of  any  slave; 
but  all  such  debts,  obligations,  and  claims  shall  be  held  illegal 
and  void. 

The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce,  by  api)ropriato 
legislation,  the  provisions  of  this  article. 

Article  15. 

The  right  of  citizens  of  the  United  States  to  vote  shall 
not  be  denied  or  abridged  by  the  United  States,  or  by  any 
State,  on  account  of  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of 
servitude. 

The  Congress  shall  have  power  to  enforce  this  article  by 
appropriate  legislation.* 

*  •'  The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  docs  not  confer  the  riglit  of 
sullVago  upon  any  one"  (Chief-Justice  Waite).  An  amendment  was  nec- 
essary to  prevent  the  States  or  the  United  States  from  giving  preference,  in 
tlie  riglit  to  vote,  to  one  citizen  of  the  United  States  over  anotlier  on  account 
of  race,  color,  or  previous  condition  of  servitude.  "The  Fifteentli  Amend- 
ment had  the  effect  in  law  of  removing  from  the  State  constitutions,  or  mak- 
ing void,  any  provision  in  them  wliich  restricted  the  right  lo  vote  to  the 
white  race"  (Justice  Harlax).  By  the  second  section  Congress  is  ex- 
pressly empowered  to  enforce  the  amendment.  It  was  proposed  by  Con- 
gress February  26,  1869,  and  prochumed  in  force  March  30,  1810.  This 
amendment  illustrates  the  liberal  character  of  the  Government  of  the  peo- 
ple of  the  United  States,  and  a  striking  contrast  may  now  be  drawn  between 
the  narrow  and  somewhat  selfish  principles  of  the  Federal  Government  in 
1789,  and  the  brond  and  humane  principles  which  actuate  the  nation  at  the 
present  time. — The  Government  of  the  People  of  the  United  States,  p.  286. 


INDEX. 


Administration  of  government  in  the  Unit- 
ed States  of  America,  1776  to  1787,  G8. 

In  England,  09. 

in  the  United  States  of  America  after 
1787. 175, 171),  177. 
Articles  of  Confederation,  committee  on, 
76,  77,  78. 

character  of,  78,  79,  89,  81,  8:i,  83,  81. 

before  the  States,  79. 

an  anomalous  government,  85. 

theory  of,  86. 

detects  of,  86,  87. 

collapse  of,  101, 109. 
Assembly,  Colonial,  composition  of,  16. 

compared  to  State  legislature,  17. 

first  general,  35,  36,  37. 

and  Parliament,  39. 

and  taxation,  31. 

triumphs  over  Parliament,  57,  58. 

a  precedent  in  the  Constitution,  1-tl, 
115. 

resume,  175, 176. 
Authorities  consulted,  9. 

Charters,  first  Virginia,  18. 

its  seal,  19. 

Its  failure,  30. 

second  Virginia,  30. 

third  Virginia,  31,  33. 
Congress,  tli-st  Continental,  31. 

second,  37,  TO. 

Congress  of  Confederation,  60,  61. 

its  acts,  63. 

its  delegates,  66,  67. 

its  finance,  89,  90,  91,  93,  93,  91,  95. 

lacks  of  quorum,  101. 

denied  adequate  powers.  111. 

piisses  ordinance  of  1787, 133. 

ceases  to  exist,  170. 


!  Constitutions,  first  State,  38,  39,  40, 

Massachusetts,  1780,  40-46. 

of  other  States,  46, 

changes  in,  during  the  century,  47. 

propeity  (lualitlcatious,  48. 

religious  qualifications,  49. 

administrative  departments,  43. 

legislative  departments,  53. 

judicial  departments,  54. 

influence  of    one   State  on  another, 
5i5,  56. 

difference  between  first  and  later  con- 
stitution, 56. 

New  Jersey,  70. 

Virginia,  71. 

Virginia's  plan  for  a  national  govern- 
ment, 130,  131,  134. 

New  Jersey  plan,  133. 

Connecticut  compromise,  127. 

debate  on  representation,  138-133. 

compromises  in  national,  138, 133, 138. 

debate  on  slavery,  130-138. 

the  national  Constitution  signed,  143. 

presented  to  Congress,  143. 

origin  of  national  Constitution,  144, 
145, 146. 

before   the    State   ratifying   conven- 
tfons :  Pennsylvania,  150 ;  Delaware, 
153 ;  New  Jersey,  153 ;  Georgia,  154 
Connecticut,     154 ;    Massachusetts. 
154 ;    New    Hampshire,    159,    161 
Maryland,    159;     South    Carolimi 
160;  Virginia,  161;  New  York,  163 
North  Carolina,  166;  Rhode  Island, 
167. 

Constitution  takes  effect,  168. 

amendments  to,  173,  174,  175. 

text  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  178-305. 


208 


-      INDEX. 


Convention,  first  American,  30. 
Hartford,  87,  88. 
Annapolis,  106. 
Philadelphia,  107,  ft  scq. 
ratifying  conventions,  150-167 

Declarations,  of  1765,  30. 
of  1776,  33,  71,  75,  76. 


Education,  51. 
Elector,  qualifications  of, 
48,  19. 


23,  ~1,  ~5, 


Finance,  taxation  by  Pariiauient,  39. 

during  confederation,  89,  90. 

paper  money,  91-99. 

tariff,  97. 
Franklin,  72,  73, 105, 115,  LiS,  139. 


Hamilton,  71,  1:25,  KW,  165,  173. 

Members    of   Constitutional   Convention, 
111,  113,  113,  114,  115,  116, 117, 118, 119. 

Navigation  laws,  96,  97,  103,  135,  136,  137, 
i;i8. 

Revolution  of  1776,  38,  29,  31. 

Washington,  George,  his  views  on  govern- 
ment, delegate  to  Philadelphia  Con- 
vention, 111 ;  its  president,  119. 

elected  President  of  the  United  States, 
171. 

his  journey  to  New  York,  171. 

inauguration,  173. 

appoints  his  cabinet,  173. 


THE    END. 


i'-r'-'K'f''- . 


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